ART THEFT REPORTS
The Museum Security Network started it's activities December 1996. Below you can find all reports about art theft we have been sending to the mailinglist since December 1996. Separate pages have been made giving information about Art Damage, Art Forgery, and the Recovery of Stolen Art.
Links on this page are not activated. Additional information can be requested via e-mail.
- FBI Looks for Stolen Ax Head (Stone Age Artifact Shed Light on Early Americans)
- Thieves net art worth $2 million
news release:35 Hendrik Helmantel paintings stolen.
- Copernicus Tempts Thieves Worldwide
- Vandals dig up part of old grave
- Careful planning preceded 25 years of coin, stamp thefts
- Surrealist sculpture stolen in Mexico City (Thieves dump it days later)
- Fossils Being Plundered by Thieves
- Lawrence University Suffers Theft of Rare Books
- 'Bizarre' Group Seeks Ransom for Indian Pottery ('Liberation Army' Claims It Robbed Museum; Security system bypassed)
- Egypt jails Australian for smuggling antiquities
- Hemingway letter stolen
- Sotheby's pays out GBP.250,000 after inside theft
- Historic Space Artifacts Stolen from U.S. Museum
- Antiques, antler pieces seized
- 4 Detained in Theft of Koran
- Reward offered for stolen artwork: Theft troubles Folsom residents
- Cezanne Painting Stolen in Oxford
- Ichabod's owner charged in book thefts
- Stealing California's Mission Past by: Robert Hoover
- Theft Alert (stolen jewelry) http://www.antiques-world.com/stolen/Bernaerts/Volbernfr.html
- Stolen Fantasy Paintings
- Spare bedroom yields hoard of art treasures
- Reward Offered for Stolen Picassos
- Stolen Goods Found Up for Auction on Ebay
- 3 works by Picasso stolen at Cordillera; 2 etchings, self-portrait on ceramic tile taken from Eagle County restaurant
- Thieves make off with 16 paintings from Russian museum
- Artful dodges. Art fraud and theft is a billion-dollar business -almost as big as the drugs trade and just as ruthless
- American Civil War Era Medical Books
- Five oil paintings stolen from Rome museum
- Vandals sack villas of Rome
Rare books stolen from university in Poland (Missing manuscripts humiliate famed school)
- Stealing Millennial Loot in Israel, From 2 Millenniums Ago
- Art heist from mansion in Bilthoven, The Netherlands
- U.S. man charged selling stolen 16th Century art
- Italian Loot ( "Stemming the Antiquities Flow")
- Ex-UCLA Official Collapses at Sentencing in Art Theft
- Suspect arrested in theft of doors
- Lost printed items and manuscripts
- Stealing From the 'Cities of the Dead'; New Orleans Antiques Dealers Suspected in Cemetery Thefts
- Florentine treasure found in market is sold abroad
- Couple held in sale of artifacts
- Reward Offered for First Lady's Ring (stolen from a Vermont museum during opening hours)
- Indian Artifact Thieves Caught
- stolen specimens Institute of Geological Sciences and Geiseltalmuseum of the Martin-Luther-University Halle in Germany
- Clashes Over Italy Antiquity Plea
- Policing Plunder, Italy Requests U.S. Help in Stemming Loss of Its Antiquities
- Thief strikes Hemingway exhibit - Spiegelman arrested again
- New design Museum Security Website (Do send your comments)
- Ancient art traffickers rob history for millions, Representatives from several Latin American countries met last week to tackle the growing problem.
- Princess Anne's treasures stolen from palace (spate of thefts from royal palaces in London over the past decade)
- Investigation underway into theft of antique books from Jagiellonian Library
- Stolen Public Art (Jennifer Barrett)
- STOLEN' ART WORKS UP FOR SALE
- Art Thief Gets Nearly 17 Years
- query: stolen and forged Russian icons
- Arts-Nepal: Stolen Artifacts Wind up in Western Museums
- Lowbrow art smugglers target a `hot' South Florida market : includes a list of items recovered between 1982 - 1999
- Police Question Man after a Stolen Gold Wreath Found Hidden in Garden
- 7 charged in thefts from cemeteries; 3 antiques dealers among suspects
- Tesla Artifacts Disappear
- Theft runs rampant in Mexico art world (Country says guarding its priceless treasures is proving too costly)
- Peru moves against artifact smugglers (The Peruvian government is fighting to secure its cultural heritage in the face of a growing international trade in stolen artifacts)
- Re: Gallery staff baffled after statue stolen (Brent Luebke)
- Buddha heads roll in theft from Cambodia's ancient temples
- Treasures of ancient Rome plundered (Italian police have raised the alarm over the growing "looting and pillaging" of art and antiquities after the theft of a 2nd century marble pillar from the restored ruins of Hadrian's Villa, once the richest and most extensive of Roman imperial palaces)
- Re: Thieves steal medieval Koran
- Stolen art trade now rivals arms, drugs
- Eccentric 'gentleman' thief jailed over UKP:2m art racket (a retired English teacher who found companionship in the criminal underworld began a jail sentence yesterday for his part in a UKP:2 million stolen art and antiques racket)
- Spain opens global war on treasure hunters (SPAIN has launched a legal and diplomatic offensive to claim the thousands of wrecked Spanish galleons that lie undisturbed in seas across the world)
- Thieves steal medieval Koran (Authorities launched an international search Friday for a 15th century Koran stolen from Turkey's Topkapi Palace, alerting museums, galleries and collectors)
- Ex-Official Admits Thefts From UCLA (Head of publications, who resigned and apologized, pleads guilty to embezzling $475,000 to buy art, antiques)
- Dealers hand over UKPounds:1m art to swindlers (some of the world's most respected dealers have been swindled out of paintings, prints and jewellery in an elaborate Italian-run art scam)
- ART THEFT in general declined in Italy last year, but the robbery of paintings and precious objects from churches has risen sharply
- Artful dodger spills beans (Confession at dinner party draws attention to disappearance of painting from Parliament; more on the theft of the Lichtenstein painting)
- Stolen artwork (suspect: Joseph Michael Killebrew)
- Man held over pop art theft
- Historic SF bells silenced by thieves
- Theft of Treasures Booms in Ukraine (crimes are well prepared. Criminals have escape and sale venues ready, and the thefts often come on order. Antique thieves are assisted by lax security at museums and other poorly financed cultural institutions.)
- Former UCLA Official Convicted of Stealing and Selling Painting (The former director of student counseling at UCLA was convicted in federal court Friday of stealing a 19th century oil painting from the university and selling it to a New York art gallery for $200,000.)
- Looters Threaten Peru's Ancient Treasures
- Thieves lift Raoul Dufy artworks from gallery
- Cartoon Theft No Laughing Matter
- Tiffany glass expert found guilty in window theft
- Thieves Steal Dutch Paintings (De Momper, Van Ostade, Van Mieris a.o.'s)
- Couple charged in antique-theft scheme
- Clergy put on alert after thieves target churches
- Tibetan art dealer arrested in attempt to stop relics theft
- Artifacts Illegally Removed
- Antiques dealer 'bought item from grave robber'
- The Theft From The Louvre of the Diamond Sword of Charles X
- Philippine Star news: dinosaur eggs stolen (Sally Shelton)
- Croatian museum stripped of its art treasures (Boston Globe)
- Thieves strip remote Lorna Doone church
- RE: 'Count' steals art worth millions (Patrick Vyvyan)
- Numismatic theft - Stolen Coins (Jonathan Sazonoff)
- 'Count' steals art worth millions
- Rembrandt Stolen from French Museum
- Thieves are plundering rare and valuable cultural pieces, and institutions are powerless to stop them (S.A.)
- S.Korea confiscates 'Picasso' after alleged theft
- LA doctor had him steal Picasso, Monet -witness
- Looters take millions in Afghan treasures
- Thais crack down on unscrupulous antique dealers
- Trial opens for L.A. doctor accused in art theft
- Original key to the Bastille stolen from Sydney wax museum
- Ancient Greek Wreath Disappears
- Another Julian Alden Weir Theft (More paintings pilfered from Cooper Inn)
- Four ancient Cambodian temples pillaged
- Theft of two J. Alden Weir paintings
- Ex-Kenner museum chief charged in theft
- Figure in art-theft case faces tax charge
- Kosovo art looting (Martin Mullin)
- Reward Offered In Art Theft
- The Lost Art of Kosovo, a Casualty of War; On a Less Visible Front, Serbs Continue Assault on Culture & Creativity
- Reward Offered For Stolen Vase
- Den Bosch Netherlands - Van Gogh Theft
- Italy art crime booms in borderless Europe
- Van Gogh painting stolen from bank office
- Stolen books
- Russian Art Theft - Perov Posting (Jonathan Sazonoff)
- Farmer Gets Death Sentence For Stealing Buddha Statue
- Ethiopians urge Britain to return looted treasure
- Looted Art To Be Auctioned
- Looters strip Cambodia of its art (Sunday Times of London)
- Thieves plunder Russian museums to order (Times of London)
- theft of a priceless Chihuly vase from the Delaware Art Museum
- Armed robbers steal Russian paintings
- Picasso Thefts - "Dora Maar"
- At Antiques Fairs, History Stolen; Md. Man Is Charged With Larceny; FBI Affidavit Tells of East Coast Operation
- Archaeology's Chief Critic Digs In His Heels; Latest Salvo Hits Establishment For Stand on Antiquities Dealers (stirring up dust again with provocative proposals for combating the problem of widespread looting of archaeological sites)
- Art Law: Holding the Bag: Stolen Art and Museums
- MUSEUM ANTIQUE THIEF HUNTED
- RE: Stolen meteorites (Mark Miano)
- Indiana Jones and the temple of 'stolen' relics (Daily Telegraph London)
- Thieves Steal Art From Peru Church
- French police bust chateaux-looting gang
- Ming treasure vanishes for a second time
- re: Cemetery thefts (John Finnegan)
- African artifact thefts (Jonathan Sazonoff)
- Slovenija's stolen art (Jonathan Sazonoff)
- Antiques dealers in grave thefts inquiry
- UK Art Theft (Jonathan Sazonoff)
- Gunmen carefully select, then steal Tamayo art from Mexican gallery (ROBO DE DOCE CUADROS DE RUFINO TAMAYO EN LA CIUDAD DE MEXICO)
- Cambodian temples stripped of treasures
- Rembrandt Stolen From Danish Museum (Guard knocked down)
- Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of African artifacts are missing from the Buffalo Museum of Science
- Provo Cops Look For Art Thieves
- Raiders grab UKP: 2m art and UKP: 20 for getaway petrol, latest information plus some similar incidents from the MSN archive
- Lawyer Charged In Monet, Picasso Insurance Case
- Man Nabbed in $5 Million Art Theft
- Tualatin's City Hall and Library has been closed after a telephone threat
- International art-theft ring busted in ain
- Precious violin stolen
- Van driver 'burnt £500,000 Rubens'
- Thieves Rob Famous Russian Church
- Smuggled Art Confiscated in Russia
- Icons stolen from famed Russian church
- Bulgaria: Police Fight Theft Of Antiquities
- Disaster mitigation web site
- Afghan War Assaults Artifacts (Ancient Treasures in Kabul Turning to Rubble)
- Theft of sculpture stumps British mission in Ottawa
- Arts Club members in frame over UKPounds:1m theft (Electronic Telegraph)
- Art thieves plunder East for Western collectors (Electronic Telegraph)
- Paper links Boston museum to looted antiquities
- New MFA link seen to looted artifacts; Scholars cite works acquired since 1984
- UKPounds:1m Shakespeare folio stolen in university raid
- Dawn raid nabs Lindsay painting (Sydney Morning Herald)
- Coins of contention; Turkey battles to recover ancient trove of silver
- Hunt for stolen Birmingham photos reaches Web
- 'Baron' held in stolen art inquiry
- Stolen Sutler Trailer
- Very important sample of Helicoprion bessonovi "holotipe" stolen
- Re: stolen painting sold in Stockholm (Clifford Scheiner)
- Feathered Fake Cloaked Peruvian Museum Theft
- Repentant Robbers Leave Cloak In Confessional
- Iraq museum shrouds its treasures (stolen antiquities intercepted by security forces)
- Courtauld offers reward for lost paintings
- Rare Copernicus book stolen from Polish library (second theft in eastern Europe this year of a copy of ``De Revolutionibus'')
- Additional info re V&A theft
- ABORIGINES MOURN THEFT OF RARE ROCK CARVING
- Collector faces fraud charges over stolen art
- Theft From Courtauld Art Gallery (Geoff Goodrich)
- Report of theft of Korean ceramics (Soeren M. Chr. Bisgaard)
- Three artworks stolen from Courtauld (Times of London)
- Stolen Stradivarius Violins (Jonathan Sazonoff)
- Two Constables are stolen from V&A Museum (Daily Telegraph)
- Hunt still on for stolen painting (Sunday Times South Africa)
- 'Raffles' gang plunder Venice palaces
- UKPounds: 2m Stradivarius stolen from home of violinist
- (Russia Today) Missing Chagall Works Puzzle Belarus
- V&A vase found in the left luggage (two days missing without anyone noticing; Times of London)
- RE: V&A vase found in the left luggage (Richard J. Viola)
- Stolen Bones - Paleontology ( Jonathan Sazonoff)
- Thieves loot prehistoric tomb (BBC online)
- Regarding the art theft at the V&A
- Canaletto painting stolen in Venice
- Philadelphia Museum theft (Marjorie Searl)
- China court condemns four fresco thieves to death
- Antique, Art Robbery = $50,000.00 Reward!
- Art heist at SA National Gallery
- Stolen Sickert Painting (Richard J. Viola)
- Mondrian painting stolen from Dutch museum (Ton Cremers)
- Missing Books (Naomi M. Steinberger)
- Thieves pillage French chateaux of art heritage (Times of London)
- Thieves Loot Art From Peru Churches (The Associated Press; Appraiserl@aol.com)
- Re: Monet & Sisely theft (Jonathan Sazonoff)
- Monet, Sisley Paintings Stolen In Nice Museum (Masked robbers take paintings from museum)
- Books stolen from the British Institute of Florence
- The 'Theft' of a Marquis de Sade manuscript and legal complications
- Copernicus sun-theory book stolen (Daily Telegraph)
- Gunman Steals Prominent French Painting From New Zealand Gallery
- Crime wave threatens Russian art heritage (Times of London)
- Gang held as Italians recover art treasures (London Times)
- Closures at the Louvre due to theft
- Historic sites are being destroyed at the rate of one every day
- Bust of Christ stolen from diocese (The Columbus Dispatch)
- Worker admits theft of Baalbek artifacts (The Daily Star)
- Three priceless paintings stolen in Rome
- Nigeria loses $200 mln of antiquities in five years
- Cezanne, Two Van Goghs Stolen From Rome Museum ( thieves removed the tape from the museum's closed-circuit surveillance system)
- Antique watch collection missing from Kent store (The Beacon Journal)
- Antique decorations vanishing overnight (Philadelphia)
- 'Armed robber ripped Picasso from gallery'
- New theft from French museum
- Cat burglar admits role in plot to sell stolen Picasso
- 'Gentleman' thief admits he was in picture on Picasso
- Diebstahl in der Nationalbibliothek
- International paintings can't be seized
- Thieves plundering cradle of civilization (The Miami Herald)
- 4,000 library books stolen from garage (By Ann Belser, Post-Gazette Staff Writer)
- Painting stolen from Louvre; The painting was cut from its frame
- Theft of statue of Helen Keller stumps police (Cleveland)
- illicit art trade
- The Louvre robbed again; this time of an Impressionist (do not get scared: this report is additional to the one we sent to the MSN list yesterday)
- Police return UKPounds:30,000 haul of antiques to burglar; detectives have been unable to trace the original owners.(It is estimated that the criminal trade in antiques in Britain nets UKPounds:500 million annually) (Daily Telegraph)
- Italy Wants Greek Antiquities Back (The Associated Press)
- Italy calls N.Y. museum's prized collection stolen; Legal action is threatened to regain treasures (By Walter V. Robinson, Globe Staff, 04/17/98)
- Missing Items; Daniel Spiegelman case. (Jane Rodgers Siegel jrs19@columbia.edu)
- Delco men plead guilty in theft of artifacts ( Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.)
- Information of Jewel Theft (rfdavis@friend.ly.net)
- missing Italian art (Teresa Prestwood writer5@hotmail.com)
- Beijing's oldest stone statue of Buddha has been stolen from its home in a suburban village (BBC UK News)
- Claims to Greek goddesses; Italy suspects smugglers got artifacts to US collector (Walter V. Robinson, Globe Staff, 04/04/98)
- Grave robbers find treasure in cemeteries (The Detroit News)
- 5 indicted in thefts involving antiques (Philadelphia Newspapers Inc. )
- Palace sculpture is stolen
- Battle to beat Russian art thieves
- Stolen Music Manuscripts in the Canary Islands
- British Museum acts to return stolen objects
March 10, 1998, continued
- Mayan grave robbers strike in Honduras
- ANTIQUITIES SCANDAL (Maya antiquities)
- Iraq's artefacts under threat
- Mystery of missing antiquities sold by Sotheby's
- Man held in theft of Lincoln papers
- Man Charged in Theft of Mozart, Wagner Papers
- Stolen Item (medallion)
- Stolen materials (book)
- theft from Palenque museum
- Guatemala demands MFA return of artifacts
- Grave robbing video
- Janitor charged in heist of U.S. historical relics
- Little Mermaid loses her head to vandals for a second time
- Art Loans Gone Awry
- Grave robbing is link to underground trade (Peasants in Peru search for treasures in tombs. Trafficking in artifacts is a big money)
- Book thief could learn something from heist
Tape reveals brutal antiques robbery
Notification of theft, Historical Society of PA
- Stolen Serape
- Thieves escape with Picasso from Swiss home
- Cartier jewels snatched in skylight raid on workshop
- Police stage a £5m stolen antiques road show
- books by F. Scott Fitzgerald were reported missing and believed stolen from Special Collections and Archives at the James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia.
- Stolen swords draw attention of the FBI
- New wave of thieving strikes after Cambodian coup
- Thieves steal Cambodia's ancient treasures of Angkor
- American Civil War relics stolen in Philadelphia
- Prince's jewels stolen by Italian cat burglar ( including a pair of 18-carat yellow gold Faberge cufflinks once owned by Tsar Nicholas II of Russia)
- Munich raid strikes out Cyprus art smuggling ring
- Mariotto di Nardo (1394-1424) painting stolen from Dutch museum
- Fall River man charged in cemetery gate theft
- Re: (Fwd) Theft from historic house
- £500,000 atlas by Ptolemy is stolen By Susannah Herbert in Paris
- Theft of Biological/Palaeontological Specimens
- Robbery at CIMEC (Romanian Information Centre for Culture and Heritage)
- Re: Robbery at CIMEC
- Art Thieves Leave Many Frowns Behind( Gallery owner is waiting for police action after lithograph by Red Skelton is stolen)
- Alert: Another Book Crook
- Suspect admits a try to sell stolen art (Rembrandt, Durer works were included)
- Twice-Stolen Art Takes A Twisted Trail to N.Y. Azerbaijani Lawyer Held After High-Speed Chase
- Thieves steal cemetery's historic gates
- Statue stolen as art attacks spread to Sydney
- Alleged partner indicted in U.S. for Baku art theft (trying to sell $10 million worth of stolen drawings that were part of a German
collection)
- Two nabbed with Peruvian antiquity
- Antiquities smugglers arrested, artifacts confiscated
- Thieves plunder treasure from the ruins of Assisi's glory. (Chorus of condemnation grows as gross inefficiency, neglect and theft take
their toll on precious remnants of Italy's vulnerable artistic
- query: byzantine-art, stolen or looted in northern Cyprus during and after the war.
- Published Photos May Show Rembrandts Museum Pursues Stolen Art
- $100,000 Sculpture Stolen From Gallery
- Violent antiques thief leafed through the reference work to select judges and peers and planned each raid in great detaiL
- Thieves rip altar from Hardy church
- Vandalism and theft (in churches) cost insurer £5 million a year
- Looters pillage church art in Assisi
- Man charged in New York with $10 million art theft
- Museum Thefts (the Art Newspaper) - Thieves steal Antwerp museum's only Van Gogh
- Who's Who burglary gang knew what's what
- Auction house tip puts police on trail of £1m art gang
- Broker Charged with Art Theft (No plea entered in art fraud case)
- Stolen Narwhal Tusk
- Police question suspect in Picasso theft
- Man gets 15 months in stolen art sting
- Professional art thieves steal Smuts portrait from club
- John Lennon etchings stolen from Amsterdam Gallery
- Crime in museums & galleries
- German Cops Seize Alleged Stolen Art
- stolen painting
- Burglar was expert 'worthy of part on Antiques Roadshow'
- $400,000 IN FINE ART WAS STOLEN
-Art thieves plague Cambodian religious structure
Two Missing Books: COTTA, 1623. CAIUS, 1544
Belgium Art Thefts
Wroclaw University robbed of valuable 18th-century paintings
N.Y. Art Dealers Under Investigation, Justice Dept. Reportedly Checking for Possible Price Collusion
Artifact thieves take Guatemala church's archangel
Bird paintings stolen
Art thefts in Spain increase 49 percent last year
Thieves rob South Africa of its cultural heritage
Nine years for man who 'fenced' antiques
Israeli police probe art theft ring
Smuggling art out of Russia has become a thriving business April 17, 1997, Over 3,000 cases of art theft reported in Russia in 1996
stolen from a local bookstore: Mather, Increase. Kometographia; or, A Discourse Concerning Comets
Wedgwood Museum's finest vases are stolen
gold and silver relics stolen this Holy Week March 29, 1997
archaeologists threatened with violence by looters
thefts from Library of Congress
historic site of Butrint vandalized
illicit trafficking in works of art in Africa
2 Paintings Stolen From Museum
A late classic, Navajo, serape has been stolen from the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Theft KLIMT painting not discovered for several days!!
Specimen theft