The list of recovered treasures is impressive–400 hand-edited pages of “The Good Earth” manuscript, an original copy of the Bill of Rights, the Rodin sculpture that inspired the Impressionist movement, and the headdress that Geronimo wore at his final Pow-Wow–to name just a few. 

Robert K. Whittman founded the FBI’s Art Crime Team. In retirement he has written a memoir of his career. “Priceless” details his undercover encounters with a host of art thieves—some competent and dangerous, others ineffective and bumbling.

Whether or not thieves know the value of the art they steal, they soon find there’s no easy way to turn it into cash. That fact created opportunities for Wittman, who posed as a buyer, allowing himself to be courted, sometimes for months on end. Only when the deal finally closed would the seller learn that his buyer was an undercover FBI agent.

Wittman now runs Robert Wittman Inc., a Security and Recovery Consulting firm that assists auction houses, collectors, galleries, insurance companies and other institutions in protecting their cultural assets.

In June, 2011 Robert Wittman Inc. is offering a five-day seminar on Art Crime Investigation in Philadelphia, PA.

Security is one of many considerations when buying fine art. For a comprehensive take on all aspects, it’s hard to beat The Art of Buying Art by Alan S. Bamberger, noted art expert, author, and syndicated columnist. It’s generally thought to the best and easiest-to-understand book on how to buy, sell, evaluate, appraise, and collect art.

There are 26 chapters in the book, including Make Sure It’s Original, Dealer Dealings, Certificates of Authenticity and Appraisals, How Not to Buy Art, Forgers, Fakes, and Scams, and Negotiate the Buy.

Appendixes deal with auction records, price guides, appraiser associations, auction houses, artist dictionaries, encyclopedias, art periodicals, art dealers association, and other valuable references.

For those who are just beginning to collect, or who are thinking about collecting, this book, with its accessible language is a great initiation. For those who are collecting already, it is a valuable resource on how to do things right.

The theft of artwork from a Southampton, NY home is the second such heist to hit the exclusive enclave in the past month, police have revealed. One or more thieves climbed through a window at a home on Gin Lane sometime between February 14 and 16 and made off with an unknown number of works.

A few days prior, thirteen paintings reportedly worth $250,000 were taken from a different residence.  Among the items stolen then were works by Frederick H. McDuff, Jean Duffy, Jacques Martin-Ferrieres, Howard Behrens, Pierre Bittar and C. Everley. Detectives are considering the strong possibility that the two thefts are related.

Earlier in February, $750,000 worth of watches, jewelry, and works by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and others were stolen from a well-secured New York City building.  We reported on this incident here

The three heists highlight an alarming fact: art is valuable, and often unprotected. Even when the building itself is protected, as in the New York City case, individual pieces may not be. Seasonal and weekend residences are particularly vulnerable to theft because they are often unoccupied for long stretches of time.

A fact that is so often overlooked in the art world is that once a painting is stolen it may never be seen again, and unlike many other objects, a piece’s value is its singularity. You can’t replace it. So if the work doesn’t come back to market through a sale or recovery it may be permanently gone, maybe to be enjoyed by only one or a few people or forgotten or destroyed to cover evidence.

A recent article in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review points up this futility, to say nothing of the naiveté of the establishment in allowing works of sentimental, as well as real value, to be displayed without the most rudimentary protection. Hadn’t these guys heard of marbles in the frame?

“For nearly seven decades, two paintings depicting outdoor ‘sporting’ activities graced the walls of the prestigious Rolling Rock Club in Ligonier Township. The artworks by renowned equine artist Franklin B. Voss depicted foxhunting scenes, perfectly blending into the ambience of the private club known for its history of foxhunts and steeplechase races. On Jan. 18, 2006, both paintings disappeared. They have not been recovered.

Police said the paintings might have been carried out of the club between 5 and 9:30 p.m. that day by two thieves posing as service workers. They suspect two men wrapped the paintings and other artwork in Persian rugs and carried them outside to a van. Unsuspecting club employees thought the carpets were scheduled to be cleaned, police reports indicate. The estimated value of the haul was $68,000.”

Voss is regarded as one of the greatest American equine artists of the 20th century. Some described him as the “artist of choice among America’s sporting elite.”

Daytime, when staff and visitors are in the building, should no longer be the gift to thieves it once was. Among the simple and affordable solutions to protect hanging art is Art Guard, a hidden, battery operated, stand-alone module that alerts anyone in the building with a 120 db alarm when a piece of art or object is tampered with. A far-sighted expenditure of $100 would have these two works still hanging in place

The brazen theft of iconoclastic paintings from a well-secured New York City building has highlighted the need for additional measures to protect hanging art. Police estimated that thieves made off with $750,000 worth of watches, jewelry, and works by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and others.

The thieves bypassed several state-of-the-art security measures to get into the five-story building, the New York Post reported. The sole elevator was key-operated, and surveillance cameras were operating inside the apartment. But the thieves made off with the video recorder attached to the cameras, taking the evidence of the crime with them. The apartment was entered by drilling a hole through the wall of a hallway sometime between Nov. 24 and 28, police believe.

For more detailed information on this theft, please visit Art Knowledge News.

Once the apartment’s security system had been breached, the artwork itself was essentially defenseless. This is where an art security system such as Art Guard’s new second-generation RF transmitters can add a vital second level of defense.

Each piece of art is protected by a sensor that will instantly notify authorities on or off premises when it the artwork is tampered with.  Art Guard can be integrated in a variety of central systems, or used as a plug-and-play system that is particularly effective in private homes. When other security measures are turned off during the daytime, Art Guard is still on, working around the clock. The system offers telephone and computer communication and complete compatibility with the full range of GE security sensors. It is user installed, highly affordable and easily expanded.

Individual works of art are irreplaceable. Fortunately they can now be protected at a fraction of their value.

As reported in The Art Newspaper, Richard Northcott, Exec Director of the art division of Heath Lambert, a London re-insurer, says that re-insurance companies — firms that protect specialist fine art insurers — are becoming increasingly wary of insuring too much art in any one place. This could have a particularly sobering affect on art fairs, especially large ones with an aggregation of expensive pieces.
“For a long time nobody in the insurance world was monitoring the cumulative value of art shown at fairs,” explains Northcott. “But in the last two or three years the industry has become a lot more sophisticated and a lot more aware of the issue.”

The cap on insurance liability for art kept in one place, known in the industry as “maximum aggregated value”, has also led to rising insurance prices. Better security would seem to be the answer! Or is that just me?