Thefts

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

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

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

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

Stolen Charles Darwin notebooks worth millions are mysteriously returned to Cambridge library

The two manuscripts were returned in a pink gift bag with a message that read: "Happy Easter X"

NFTnews

Counterfeit NFTs are creating major problems for digital platforms—but new tools to spot fakes are on the rise

Image recognition and data scraping technology are increasingly being used by the NFT community to protect intellectual property online

Stolen Nepalese temple artefacts found at London gallery returned in embassy ceremony

The artefacts, from the 16th and 18th centuries, were discovered in Barakat Gallery and were voluntarily handed over to police

Mexico recovers stolen 16th-century manuscripts

The historic works were taken from the National Archives over the years in what its new director calls a “wholesale pillaging”

Theftsnews

French decorative art stolen from 17-century country home in Sussex—for second time

Police appealing for information after five items, including a pair of Sèvres vases and a clock with a bronze figure of Apollo, were taken from Uppark on the South Downs

Theftsnews

Thieves steal rosary beads carried by Mary Queen of Scots to her execution

Around £1m worth of artefacts were taken from Arundel Castle in West Sussex on Friday

Dutch police arrest over Van Gogh smash-and-grab raid: how long until the landscape is recovered?

The suspect is linked to a Frans Hals theft, which should help track down paintings from two museums

a blog by Martin Bailey
Podcastspodcast

Can Netflix help solve the Isabella Stewart Gardner art heist?

Plus, vaccine passports in museums and Gossaert's Adoration

Theftsnews

German police arrest three suspects in Dresden jewel heist investigation

More than 1,600 police officers take part in raids in Berlin to solve violent theft from Dresden’s Green Vault

Criminal claims 13 works from legendary Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist are hidden in a Dublin house

BBC4 documentary—released today—unpicks theory that the stolen art was shipped to Ireland

Asian art museum located in Israeli kibbutz targeted by thieves

14th-century Buddha and Tang Dynasty sculpture among 27 works stolen by masked burglars from Wilfrid Israel Museum of Asian Art on Tuesday night

Van Gogh held hostage: private detective tells us he has more photographs

Will Arthur Brand’s images of the stolen painting lead to a recovery?

a blog by Martin Bailey
Art crimecomment

Don't let your guard down: three things you can do now to protect your art during the pandemic

With sparse personnel and visitors, some criminals will try to see if the “closed” sign actually means “open”, say K2 Intelligence FIN's art crime experts

In recent decades 28 Van Goghs have been stolen in the Netherlands—but all have been recovered

Detectives are intensifying their investigation into the latest crime, at Laren’s Singer museum, which was committed this week on the artist’s birthday

a blog by Martin Bailey

Three paintings—including valuable Van Dyck portrait—stolen from Oxford University gallery

London-based Old Masters dealer says that the works are “an unusual group to steal—neither priceless nor small fry”

Ancient Bible fragments allegedly stolen by Oxford professor and sold to Hobby Lobby owner will be returned

Washington DC’s Museum of the Bible had acquired the artefacts through its founder Steve Green

Man who stole painting in broad daylight from Moscow museum is sentenced to three years in prison

Denis Chuprikov took the landscape from State Tretyakov Gallery with the aim of "causing hype", he says

Gael García Bernal’s new film Museo turns Mexico’s biggest art heist into a madcap caper

The Spanish-launguage movie follows two middle-class flunkies who somehow pulled off one the largest antiquities thefts in modern-day history

David D'Arcy. in Toronto
Theftsnews

Chinese antiquities stolen in raid on Bath museum

Haul includes precious gold and jade artefacts, which police say may have been stolen to order

FBI recovers Chagall work stolen nearly 30 years ago

The painting, taken from the Manhattan home of an elderly couple, had been stashed in a Maryland attic

Theftsnews

Light-fingered man steals thumb of ancient terracotta warrior during museum party

China's Shaanxi Cultural Heritage Promotion Centre says it will reconsider its loan policy after the "noxious incident"

Theftsnews

John Lennon’s stolen diaries found by Berlin police

Journals and other personal effects were discovered at auction house, reports say

Theftsnews

Thief walks out of Paris gallery with Botero’s Maternity statue

Galerie Bartoux staff discovered €425,000 bronze missing at closing time

One man’s epic quest to recover a stolen painting by ‘Iraq’s Picasso’

The 1968 battle scene was withdrawn last month from Christie’s Dubai sale, but its fate remains in question