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2008-02-11 -Lurid Crime Tales-

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Posted by anonymous5089 2008-02-11 08:57|| || Front Page|| [11128 views ] Top

#1 I guess ~~mentally challenged~~ Swiss art museum directors have never heard of armed guards, plexiglass, or security companies? Given a $6B annual market in stolen art, perhaps a guard or three for each major museum may not really be worth it.

Give them a few more years and perhaps they'll be out of art and will by my dog's nosepaintings for $20M each or something so they'll have something to ~~have stolen~~ display.

Posted by gorb 2008-02-11 09:14|| 2008-02-11 09:14|| Front Page Top

#2 From another article, it was four dudes in ski masks with guns, two made everyone lie down on the floor while the other two looted the paintings.

They loaded everything in a van and left, possibly with the paintings sticking out the back.

The report sez they spoke German, with a Slavic accent.

Posted by Seafarious 2008-02-11 11:09|| 2008-02-11 11:09|| Front Page Top

#3 Correction: three dudes

The three masked men wearing dark clothing entered the museum a half-hour before closing Sunday, police said. While one of the men used a pistol to force museum personnel to the floor, the two others went into the exhibition hall and collected the four paintings.

One of the men spoke German with a Slavic accent, police said. They loaded the paintings into a white vehicle parked in front of the museum.

Police, asking for witnesses to come forward, said it was possible that the paintings were partly sticking out of the van as the robbers made their getaway.

Posted by Seafarious 2008-02-11 11:19|| 2008-02-11 11:19|| Front Page Top

#4 Typically, such things are inside jobs, and the thieves grab very carefully selected items.

I say items, because the artworks they steal are often forgeries, put up just that day. Then, if they steal say, $30M, the museum reports $50M stolen, a theft being an excellent opportunity to make off with some of the better stuff themselves.

Then a lot depends on the insurance companies.

Many will pay a reward for stolen artwork, no questions asked, which is a fraction they would have to pay the museum. So if it is a legit theft, the thieves can make more money going that route than by trying to fence it themselves.

If the museums steal their own stuff, they already have prearranged private collectors lined up to buy it. Since these buyers are buying "stolen" art, they can't display it or brag about it. So the museums often sell several forgeries to several different buyers, each of whom thinks that they have the real one.

But on top of everything else, a lot of museums would never exhibit real valuable artwork to begin with, figuring correctly that 99.9999% of its viewers can't tell the difference. So they keep the real stuff in a vault and display good fakes.

I know it all sounds terribly nonsensical.

However, I just read elsewhere that a British family has been busted for selling a large number of superb quality fakes to museums. If a museum knows that it has been ripped off, what can it do?

It can either take a hit of perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars, become a laughingstock, and be shunned by the public; or, it can arrange a theft or destruction of the forgeries, collect the insurance money for them, and hope for the best.

Fine art has long been a racket, for well over 1500 years.

Posted by Anonymoose 2008-02-11 13:23|| 2008-02-11 13:23|| Front Page Top

#5 Great comments 'moose. I agree 100%

Posted by Scooter McGruder 2008-02-11 13:52|| 2008-02-11 13:52|| Front Page Top

#6 Hey 'moose.... you ever read mystery stories?

If so, look for Aaron Elkins' Chistopher Norgren stories. He's got a great, humerous take on the art world that isn't far from yours.

Posted by AlanC 2008-02-11 16:27|| 2008-02-11 16:27|| Front Page Top

#7 AlanC - Aaron's Chris Norgren series is indeed entertaining, and informative, to read.

But he hasn't written any Norgren books in the past few years, AFAIK. When I talked to him a few years ago, he said that the publisher didn't want to continue the series. I think (though Aaron didn't say) that the Gideon Oliver series sold better. Too bad - I love the Gideon Oliver series, but loved the Norgren series, too (I know quite a bit of the science in the Oliver series, but very little about the art world of the Norgren series, so those books were a wonderful source of information as well as being good reads).

He also co-authors a golf series (Lee Olfsted) with his wife, Charlotte. I'm not sure if that series is still going or not - I haven't seen a new book in a couple of years, but could have missed it. I think they come out as original paperbacks.

I can heartily recommend any and all of his books. And if you ever get a chance to sit down and talk with him for a while, count your lucky stars! A nice man, very interesting, and a gentleman.

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2008-02-11 19:19|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/] 2008-02-11 19:19|| Front Page Top

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