Art theft

Thefts at the British Museum prompted director’s resignation, say media reports

But Hartwig Fischer stepping down is not linked to the alleged thefts, say fresh sources

Media reports identify objects allegedly stolen from British Museum and posted on eBay

The items include a piece of Roman jewellery—reportedly worth between £25,000 and £50,000—being offered with a minimum price of £40

British Museum antiquities thief alleged to be veteran curator Peter Higgs

Higgs, who was sacked earlier this year, is alleged to have sold uncategorised items from the museum's collection on eBay as early as 2016

Sculpture stolen from the set of new Beetlejuice movie

The Vermont State Police is looking for any leads regarding the whereabouts of the 150-pound sculpture and another element of the set

Suspects arrested in theft of gold coins from German museum

The trove stolen from the Kelten Römer Museum near Munich was the biggest Celtic gold find of the 20th century

Warhol and Pollock works stolen by American crime ring may not have been destroyed, authorities reveal

Statements by one member of a crime ring that struck 20 different institutions over two decades have restored hope that not all the loot was destroyed

Germany returns artefacts—including a Venetian jewellery box stolen in 2006—to Italy

The recovered items also include a Corinthian bronze helmet and four Roman-Byzantine gold coins

FBI launches app to help identify stolen art

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has made its Nation Stolen Art File, most commonly used by law enforcement, available on mobile to the public

Man fingered in Philadelphia theft of thumb from terracotta warrior will plead guilty

A man whose drunken antics at a 2017 ugly sweater party at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia got him in hot water with the FBI, is expected to take a plea bargain in order to avoid jail time

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum closes on anniversary of infamous heist due to planned climate change protest

The museum was reportedly to be the site of a “guerrilla art installation” by Extinction Rebellion Boston on 18 March

Crime news

Ukrainian art dealer found guilty of stealing £1.3m Paul Signac from French museum

Vadym Huzhva handed a five-year sentence for 2018 theft and for stealing four other paintings in France, including a Renoir

Police recover paintings by Elaine de Kooning and others stolen in Colorado art heist

Paintings worth $400,000 that were stolen from a storage truck on 14 December 2022 have been located in a Colorado hotel room

More than $400,000 of art stolen from a padlocked truck in Boulder, Colorado

Police are investigating the theft of five paintings from a vehicle in a hotel car park

Banksynews

Ringleader of group who attempted to steal Banksy mural in Ukraine could face 12 years in prison

The suspect has not been identified by police, but is likely to be an environmental activist who told press that he intended to auction the work in support of the Ukrainian army

Police detain group attempting to steal Banksy mural from Ukraine wall

The work is one of seven the artist created in war-torn areas of the country last month

De Kooning’s Woman Ochre returns to the museum it was stolen from in 1985

The painting, which was missing for more than 30 years after it was cut from its frame and stolen, made a stop at the Getty Center in Los Angeles for restoration

Winston Churchill portrait stolen from Canadian hotel and replaced with copy

Staff at the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa noticed that the frame of the 1941 photograph did not match others in its reading room

Art theftfeature

The shocking story of a Picasso painting that was brazenly stolen and held at ransom by the 'Australian Cultural Terrorists'

Weeping Woman is one of the star works in the new exhibition Picasso Century at Melbourne's National Gallery of Victoria

Willem de Kooning’s Woman-Ochre, missing for 30 years after a heist, returns to public view at the Getty Center in Los Angeles this summer

The painting was sliced from its frame and torn from its backing in a daylight robbery at the University of Arizona Museum of Art on Thanksgiving Day in 1985

China cracks down on sale of stolen antiquities and archives

Following a 16-year-long case, involving stolen national treasures offered at auction in 2020, experts say more resources are needed to help people avoid unwittingly selling looted items

Crypto collectors beware: why online wallets are increasingly vulnerable to theft

NFTs are a major new economy and with every major new economy, there is a big new scam

Belgian cuts to art crime policing weaken ‘intelligence gathering’

Decision follows years of uncertainty around dwindling enforcement funding

Crime news

Pablo Escobar, Ernest Hemingway and a drug-smuggling NFL player covered in vaseline: new podcast explores the crazy story behind a ceramic that could be by Picasso

Steve Kough also stole three paintings from the Detroit Institute of Arts in 1982—while on trial for conspiracy to distribute marijuana

Art crime flourished during pandemic year, Interpol survey shows

Figures indicate fewer museum thefts, more illegal excavations

Last photograph of Lucian Freud’s stolen Francis Bacon portrait published for first time

Image taken at Neue Nationalgalerie moments before the 1988 theft features in a new book of the artist’s copper paintings

Police appeal for information after Kansas City's 7ft-tall bronze statue of Native American woman disappears into thin air

Memorial sculpture, valued at $80,000, may have been stolen so the metal could be sold to a scrapyard