• June 2, 1994: Fire at Oshkosh Public Museum, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, USA. Loss of 10% of the collection and collection records. Origin was workmen welding gutters on the exterior igniting an interior hollow space. Detectors in the museum, but no detectors in the hollow space, no sprinklers. Loss estimated at US$ 2 million. Reopen in one year.
  
• April 19, 1993: Fire at the Yuma Arizona Art Center in Yuma, Arizona, USA. Loss of historic building and 39 fine art pieces with some smoke and water damage. Suspected origin was electrical. Loss estimated at US$ 1.5 million. Smoke detectors no sprinklers. Reopening under consideration in 1# years.
  
• August 9, 1993: Fire at the Oakland Museum in Oakland, California, USA. Loss of gallery and some exhibits on loan. Origin was defective exhibit motor in storage room. Loss estimated at US$ 1 million. Detectors but no sprinklers. Reopen the area in one year.
  
• November 20, 1992: Fire at Windsor Castle in London, ENGLAND. Loss of a tower, several rooms, tapestries, and minor paintings. Suspected origin was blow torch. No detectors or sprinkers. Loss estimated at US$ 90 million. Area will be usable again possibly in five years.
  
• November 26, 1992: Fire at the Hofburg Royal Apartments in Vienna, AUSTRIA. Loss of several rooms on the top floor, roof, and water damage below. Suspected origin was a something left from a late night dinner event. No detectors or sprinklers. Loss estimated at US$ 60 million. Entire area will be usable again in three years.
  
• May 11, 1988: Fire at the Cabildo building of the Lousiana Museum of Art in New Orleans, USA. Loss of furniture collections in the attic, roof, structural and water damage. Origin was workmen welding gutters on the exterior igniting an interior hollow space. Detectors in the museum, but no detectors in the hollow space, no sprinklers. Loss estimated at US$ 5 million. Museum will reopen in six years.
  
• February 14, 1988: Fire at the Soviet Academy of Science Library in Leningrad, USSR, the second largest scientific library in the nation. Loss of the building, 400,000 volumes destroyed, and that many more water damaged. Suspected origin was electrical. No detectors or sprinklers. No value given. Reopened nine years later.
  
• March 31, 1986: Fire at Hampton Court Apartments, London, ENGLAND. Loss of one life (a resident), upper floors, roof, two paintings, and period furniture. Origin was personal use of a candle. Loss estimated at US$ 6 million. No detectors or sprinklers. Rebuilt in five years.
  
• April 29, 1985 and March 3, 1986: Arson at the Los Angeles Public Library, California, USA. Loss of the building interior, roof, and 70% of the collection. Arsonist was an employee. Detectors but no sprinklers in the open stacks. Loss estimated at US$ 22 million and US$ 2 million. Library reopened to the public seven years later.
  
• December 24, 1985: Fire at the Jenkins Publishing Company, Austin, Texas, USA. Loss of warehouse and thousands of historic books. Origin was defective electrical wiring. Loss estimated at US$ 9 million. Detectors but no sprinklers. Not rebuilt.
  
• October 17, 1985: Fire at the Huntington Gallery in San Marino, California, USA. Loss of elevator and elevator shaft, one minor painting, and extensive smoke damage. Suspected origin was an electrical on the elevator at night, which burst explosively into the first floor. Smoke detectors in the museum but not in the elevator or elevator shaft. No sprinklers. Loss estimated at US$ 1.5 million. Museum reopened one year later.
  
• December 31, 1984: Fire at the Byer Museum of Art in Evanston, Illinois, USA. Loss of the upper two floors and roof, with extensive water damage. Suspected electrical origin. Loss estimated at US$ 3 million. Detectors but no sprinklers. Not reopened to the public.
  
• July 8, 1978: Fire at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, BRASIL. Loss of most of the interior, the roof, and 900 works of art (90% of the collection). Suspected origin from smoking or defective wiring. Loss estimated at $US 50 million. No detectors and no sprinklers. Reopened to the public fourteen years later.
  
• February 22, 1978: Arson at the San Diego Aerospace Museum and the Internatinal Aerospace Hall of Fame, San Diego, California, USA. Loss of the building and entire collection, including 40 planes and library. Arsonists were two youths seen running away. Loss estimated at US$ 16 million. No detectors, no sprinklers. Not reopened to the public.
  
• February 22, 1977: Fire at the University of Toronto Engineering Library, Toronto, Ontario, CANADA. Loss of the building and 12,000 volumes with four times that damaged by fire and water. Origin is unknown. Loss estimated at US$ 6 million. Partial detectors, no sprinklers. Reopened for use six years later.
  
• July 28, 1972: Fire at the Temple University Law Library in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Loss of the building and partial loss of the library collection. Origin was electrical in an office area. Loss estimated at US$ 1.7 million. Reopened elsewhere in one year.
  
• September 30, 1970: Fire at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., USA. Loss of two galleries and their exhibits, with some water damage. Origin was electrical short in the exhibit. Detectors but no sprinklers. Loss estimated at US$ 1 million. Area was reopened three years later.
  
• August 9, 1970: Fire at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, USA. Loss of several historic displays of shops and equipment. Origin suspected to be an overheated hair curling iron in a dressing room. Loss estimated at US$ 2 million. Detectors but no sprinklers on part of the building. Historic areas are not reopened to the public.
  
• April , 1966: Fire at the Jewish Theological Seminary Library, New York City, USA. Loss of top three floors of open stacks, roof, 70,000 volumes and twice that damaged. Arson is suspected. No detectors and no sprinklers. Loss estimated at US$ 8.2 million. Reopened for use seven years later.
  
• April 15, 1958: Fire at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, USA. Loss of one life, 33 injuries, several galleries, two major paintings, including a Monet, seven paintings severely damaged. Origin was workmen repainting second floor galleries who were smoking on the job. Loss estimated at US$ 700,000. Detectors but no sprinklers. Museum area was reopened three years later.
  

# CAUSES: poor housekeeping\cleaning, arson, electrical, heating, cooking, workmen with torches, caterers, smoking, lighting, audiovisuals.

# CONSEQUENCES: total loss of institution, extended closing to the public, major loss of capital,loss of collection use for further exhibiting and research, total loss of burned objects, building shutdown for damage and smoke, decline in confidence in the institution and its management, decline in donations, notoriety from the public, probable insurance rate hike, loss of operations, shows and research, possible decline in the ability to obtain loans from other institutions.

• July 29, 1994: Burglary at a photography studio in Boston, Massachussetts, USA. An overnight breakin to the warehouse building and steel and concrete safe. Stolen was one painting, a portrait of Thomas Jefferson by Mather Brown from the Boston Museum of Art on return from a loan to Monticello, valued at US$ .5 million. No alarms, no guards.
• July 28, 1994: Robbery at the Schirn Gallery of Frankfurt, Germany. At least two thieves hid in the gallery at 10 pm public closing time, surprised the night watchman, tied him up, and stole 3 paintings before alarms are turned on one hour after closing. Missing are two landscapes by English artist J.M.W. Turner and one by German artist Caspar David Friedrich valued at US$ 44 million.
  
• July 17, 1994: Burglary at the Headley-Whitney Museum in Lexington, Kentucky, USA. Stolen were 103 pieces of bibelot type jewelry valued at US$ 1.6 million. Intruders disarmed security alarms, broke locks, and entered between midnight and 2 am watch checks.
  
• February 12, 1994: Burglary at the National Gallery, Oslo, NORWAY. An early morning breakin by ladder to a first floor window. Two men were recorded by an outside security video. No window alarms. Gallery alarms activated. Response was slow. Entire theft was 2 minutes. Stolen was one painting, "The Scream," by Eduard Munch valued at US$ 65 million. A number of ransoms were received but none were authenticated. A second breakin through an adjoining restaurant a month later was foiled by a gallery door alarm. The painting was recovered intact in a nearby hotel three months later.
  
• November 6-7, 1993: Burglary at the Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm, SWEDEN. Early morning breakin cutting through the roof. Taken are one sculpture, 5 Picasso paintings, and 2 Georges Braque paintings estimated at US$ 60 million. Fake paintings are "returned" a week later. Two arrests and partial recovery one month later by a Swedish and a foreign national.
  
• October 12, 1992: Burglary at the Castle Museum of Weimar, GERMANY. Robbers broke open grated window to take 8 paintings by Lucas Cranach worth US$ 40 million. All recovered within the month. Five local arrests made.
  
• April 15, 1991: Robbery from the Van Gogh Museum of Amsterdam, NEDERLANDS. A staybehind admitted accomplices in the early morning who together tied up the guards and took 20 paintings (Van Gogh) worth US$ 110 million. Robbers used a guard's automobile to drive to the train station where they were apparently frightened away and abandoned the paintings in the vehicle. All recovered. Alarms were turned off regularly early morning for guards to make their rounds. Criminals arrested within a few weeks and all were sent to prison.
  
• April 12, 1990: Burglary from the Archeological Museum in Corinth, GREECE. 292 archeological artifacts of multi million dollar value. Burglary through the roof. No guards or alarms. No recoveries.
  
• March 18, 1990: Armed robbery from the Gardner Museum, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. 7 paintings from exhibition areas estimated at US$ 200 million. Robbers entered at night dressed as policemen who announced that they had been called. No alarms were made by entering policemen who took the video record of their own entry. Two guards left bound but unharmed. No recoveries and no publicly known leads.
  
• December 24, 1988: Burglary of the National Museum of Natural History of Mexico City, MEXICO. Thieves entered during the night through ventilation ducts, avoiding guard patrols, to remove 108 pieces of Precolumbian gold from exhibit cases estimated at US$ 18 million. No alarms, no arrests, no recoveries.
  
• December 12, 1988: Burglary from Kr#ller Muller Museum in Otterloo, NETHERLANDS. Three paintings by van Gogh valued at US$ 8 million. Thieves entered through an unalarmed rear window. One returned and two recovered in six months.
  
• May 20, 1988: Burglary from Amsterdam Municipal Museum, Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS. Three paintings (Van Gogh, Cezzane, and Jongkind) from exhibit estimated at US$ 11-52 million. Thieves entered by breaking a ground window during the night. No guards or alarms. All recovered in one month. Local arrests.
  
• February 23, 1988: Burglary from Munch Museum in Oslo, NORWAY. One painting from exhibit estimated at US$ 2.3 million. Thieves entered through an unalarmed ground window at night. Recovered, found, six months later.
  
• February 8, 1988: Burglary from Colnaghi Art Gallery, New York City, USA. 19 paintings by Fra Angelico, Dughet, Veronese, Tintoretto, Magdaleni, estimated at US$ 6 million. Thieves entered an unalarmed skylight and tripped an inside alarm at night. 13 recovered two years later.
  
• March 24, 1987: Armed Robbery from the Municipal Museum of Rosario, Rosario, ARGENTINA. Six European paintings (including Titian, El Greco and Goya) estimated at US$ 12 million. Robber posed as deliveryman to museum guards to enter at night and pulled a gun. Goya recovered in Miami two years later. Two others recovered in Argentina at the same time. A local arrest.
  
• February 16 or 17, 1987: Burglary of Noortman Art Gallery in Maastricht, NETHERLANDS. Nine European paintings (including Renoir and Pisarro) valued at US$ 1 million. Thieves entered through an unalarmed rear round window. No guards or alarms. No recovery.
  
• October 27, 1985: Armed Robbery at Marmottan Museum in Paris, FRANCE. Seven French paintings (including Manet and Morisot) valued at US$ 12.5 million. Five men staged a bank-style robbery at opening time. All paintings recovered by 1990, some from Japan.
  
• November 5, 1983: Burglary at Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, HUNGARY. Seven Italian Renaissance masterpieces (including Raphael) valued at US$ 35 million. Entry means unknown. Recovered within the year. A local arrest.

  WHAT IS BEING STOLEN MOST?
  * Thieves follow the path of least protection or resistance. They strike at any objects known to be of value and/or at places that are the least protected. More, lesser value thefts occur from art galleries and antique shops, from places without alarms or guards, and from building openings not easily seen by police or the public.
  * In many non industrial countries, cultural objects which are not well protected are more often taken with little work.
  * In countries with a large, well-known archeological heritage, there is often an organized, large-scale theft of archeological artifacts from excavation and holding sites. With their customary lack of documentation and knowledge to the public, they are easily and quickly resold both nationally and internationally.
  * In countries where a large cultural legacy belongs to churches, there is a major theft of silver and gold objects, tapestries, paintings, and statues from churches, especially when churches are too poor to protect themselves.
  * Paintings, prints, and sculptures, especially by European masters and popular artists, have raised in price the most since the 1950's and are easily portable by thieves.
  * Objects that are portable, conceal-able, difficult to identify as stolen, and easily resold are the most vulnerable targets.
  * Whatever objects publicized as purchased at high value or on exhibit and of high value makes that artwork a target for more thieves.
  * Objects of high value and of high recognition are assumed to be stolen for private collectors or for the fraction of the monetary resale value that can be easily gained. Objects of middle and low value and lower recognition are stolen for resale to collectors, galleries, museums, and auction houses as legitimate pieces.
  * In sophisticated museums, white collar thieves take middle and lower value objects, especially those not uniquely identifiable, often from storage.

  WHERE ARE OBJECTS STOLEN THE MOST?

  * In large cities where are large numbers of cultural objects in museums, galleries, and private collections, professional thieves will attempt to steal anything that they learn is valuable and vulnerable.
  * Institutions without good physical security and/or without night guards or alarms (of which there are more than those with guards and alarms) are robbed more often than those with guards and alarms.
  * The highest value artwork stolen is from exhibit, especially in a burglary, where it is known to be located and easily evaluated by thieves, especially when it is obviously underprotected or is a tempting target based on publicity.
  * The organization where there is publicity of the worth or value of a collection becomes a target. This often happens to metropolitan museums eager to attract more visitors. This also happens to those who work at special shows or events and archeological sites when publicity announces their valuable discoveries.

  WHY ARE OBJECTS STOLEN?

  * Most lower value or unusual object thefts are executed mostly for resale price, but also for personal collections, and for private enjoyment, even for psychological or social purposes. Stolen art generally recovered within a year's time or after ten years or not at all.
  * Much high value theft is commissioned as specific objects to be stolen or stolen for sale at a fraction of its value. Some are stolen simply for the standard 10% insurance reward. This occurs when the thefts are famous objects.
  * For quick export to a known foreign buyer. Local thieves who commit complicated thefts do not generally know foreign markets. Foreign thieves generally do not have complicated means of theft.
  WHERE DO THE STOLEN OBJECTS ACTUALLY GO?
  * Highly identifiable objects either are immediately taken away from the point of theft but not across any enforced border, or go underground, secretly stored nearby, occasionally for years. These objects can be advertized by thieves for sale by the newspaper clippings and returned to insurance companies for 10% value whenever they cannot find a better price.
  * Private collectors, even corporate collectors, are suspected of holding many famous stolen pieces. Some famous pieces characteristically disappear for twenty to thirty years before reappearing, corresponding with the death of the illicit art holder.
  * Thieves offer stolen objects for sale where they know it is safe and profitable, usually in the same country but far removed socially or geographically from the news of the theft. Only a well connected thief will have an international market waiting for resale.
  * Thieves who travel internationally and are familiar with crossing borders effectively hide small well known cultural objects, but they often take less well known cultural objects to another country with false identification or sales papers without any thorough check.

  WHAT SUSTAINS CULTURAL THEFT?

  * The value of collections being purchased, being publicized, put on exhibit, and being stolen increases steadily and will continue to follow art market trends.
  * As long as thieves can travel faster than police can spread notices, and as long as border controls and buyers continue to conduct business without professional checks, there will be a growing rate of cultural theft.

  WHAT SHOULD YOU DO WHEN YOU DISCOVER A LOSS?

  * Insist on every loss being reported to police authorities. Persuade authorities to publicize the loss because it greatly increases the opportunity for recovery of the objects.
  * Protect the scene and notify your local police and law enforcement or investigation departments as soon as possible. Use press coverage to your advantage. Let insurance companies announce rewards if they wish.
  * Determine the last time the lost objects were seen and what happened in the area or to the objects since then.
  * Gather documents, descriptions and photographs of what is missing and instruct the police what they are looking for.
  * Follow up on police actions and investigations to ensure that everything possible is being done. Educate police what to look for.

  WHAT INTERNATIONAL ART THEFT LEGISLATION IS THERE?

  * 1954 UNESCO "Hague" Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, agreed to in principle but not signed by the United States.
  * 1970 UNESCO Convention on Art Trafficking and Illicit Property, implemented in the United States in 1983.

  WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?

  * Insist on every loss being reported to police authorities. Persuade authorities to publicize the loss because it greatly increases the opportunity for recovery of the objects. Public pressure limits the ability to resell the stolen objects. Notify the International Police Organization, Interpol.
  * Use your instinctual common sense to protect valuables, as if they were your own property: lock doors and windows, put valuables out of sight, do not publicize the presence or location of them, and require persons entering and leaving to record their entry and exit as well as the entry and exit of valuables.
  * Document and inventory every cultural collection, including temporary collections. As a first step, make a 35mm photographic record. Do not circulate the value of objects. Learn what record data law enforcement offices require for positive identification to recover stolen art objects.
  * Make regular security contacts nationally among museums, galleries and art dealers who can act together to prevent more theft. Make regular security contacts internationally to museums in nearby countries and other countries who trade with your nation.
  * Encourage the development of a commonly accepted art identification system that will be used by the majority of art owners. Museum accession/inventory numbers are not permanent markings. Use photography and other unique markings to prove positive identification of each object.
  * Encourage the development of a 24-hour-a-day national art theft reporting system and encourage prospective buyers to check that objects offered for sale have been reported missing or stolen before buying them. Encourage all losses to be reported promptly.
  * Encourage the establishment of a multi law enforcement stolen art check network as part of national crime information network, Interpol, customs, government, and representatives of insurance carriers. Develop an effective relationship between the police reporting system and the public art theft reporting system if they are separate systems.
  * Require art inspection and identification for taking art across national borders, especially your own, and photograph owners and art objects on crossing. Post police alert notices of suspected or known art thieves. Provide border agents immediate search capability for their suspicions.
  * Collect national and regional stolen property data and analyze it. Develop statistics, profiles, and projections for improved law enforcement in the future. Gain the cooperation of local and national police in developing statistics. Most art thieves are professional thieves, not professional art thieves, who can be profiled because they use local strategies.
  * Encourage enforceable legislation to require a) a standard check for clear and legitimate title or ownership before each cultural object purchase, to include legal penalties for failure to do so;
  b) that all art holders be able to show ownership records and proof of conducting the standard title check mentioned above; and
  c) making the theft and illegal importing, exporting, or trafficking in cultural property of any sort a federal offense. * Encourage all nations to sign the above agreements.

  Those who fail to change with time will continue to be victims. Those who fail to communicate and work with colleagues will continue to be victimized by outsiders.

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