Today Art Guard has the honor of chatting with Anthony Amore, Director of Security at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and best-selling author of “Stealing Rembrandts” and “The Art of the Con”. Anthony’s first book, “Stealing Rembrandts”, was an examination into who really steals masterpieces, why they do it, and what becomes of the art. He continues to write regularly …
Delusions of Art Recovery
On Friday, two paintings by Vincent Van Gogh stolen in a 2002 major art theft were recovered following an investigation into a group linked to the Italian mafia. The Naples-based Camorra crime clan was discovered to be in possession of the “Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuene” and “View of the Sea at Scheveningen” stolen from Amsterdam’s Van Gogh …
Cutting Down on Art Theft Vulnerability
The recent art theft of seven out of ten Andy Warhol can prints, on display for “The Electric Garden of Our Minds: British/American Pop” exhibit at the Springfield Art Museum, has been widely reported. The industry’s as well as the general public’s heightened interest in this art heist might have partly to do with the fact that the stolen pieces …
How Art Theft Underreporting Hurts the Market
A recent piece in the Spanish paper, El Pais, reported the theft of five Francis Bacon paintings from a home in Madrid. Major Art Theft Unreported for Eight Months That’s bad enough news, but making it worse is the fact that the theft occurred last June and wasn’t reported for over eight months. I can only speculate on the reason …
Waiting Until Art Theft Happens to Someone Else?
A highly respected expert in art theft in Europe recently came out in a UK newspaper with claims that museums there were doing too little to protect their collections from. Tan Cremers, the former head of security at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum and now an ombudsman in security matters, said that museums across Europe were “lethargic” in reacting to (art) thefts at …
Securing historical artifacts – a set up for failure
A break-in occurred at the Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, PA last week and 3 antique firearms with significant historical and monetary value were taken. This unfortunate event points up a universal quandary in protecting historic artifacts, in particular. It also points up the failure on the part of management to grasp the threat and to take proper measures to …
Why the Pundits have it Wrong
News last week of the recovery of a Stradivarius violin, more specifically the Ames Stradivarius, was welcome. Once again the pundits got it right with the remark that: “Stolen Stradivarius violins, like famous purloined paintings, are hard to sell because they are so recognizable.” This is comfort for someone who doesn’t mind the disappearance of a valuable asset for 35 years. And …