Notable Art Crimes of 2008

Noah Charney of Art Info has an short, but interesting article reviewing 2008's most intriguing art crimes. Charney lists six including a stolen fake Caravaggio from a museum in Odessa.

Charney states for every art theft that makes headlines, tens of thousands slip under the radar of the international media. Most people assume that art crime consists of only a handful of museum heists each year; in actuality, it has become the third-highest–grossing world criminal trade over the past 40 years, regularly perpetrated by or on behalf of organized crime syndicates and used to fund other illicit activities, such as drugs or arms trades. So while art thefts may be fascinating and certainly sexy to read about, we must keep in mind their sinister side and gather what lessons we can from them.

The six art theft listed as described by Charney include:

1. Last December, Portrait of Suzanne Bloch by Pablo Picasso, worth around $50 million, and The Coffee Worker by Brazilian artist Candido Portinari (estimated value $6 million) were stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art during a night raid while guards were changing shifts.
2. Another smash-and-grab blitz theft took place in February, when the Bührle Collection was robbed by armed, masked men during open hours. Thieves grabbed art near the entrance, including works by Degas, Cezanne, Van Gogh, and Monet, valued around a total $163 million.
3. In a precise and dramatic heist, thieves made off with 15 golden artworks, three pieces of Mexican jewelry, and 12 objects by renowned Haida artist Bill Reid. The crime was timed to coincide with a guard’s habitual cigarette break, and the criminals showed a considerable knowledge of the museum’s security measures and how to counteract them:
4. A Caravaggio was stolen in the night. Or was it? The thieves, almost certainly members of an organized crime syndicate, out-smarted an antiquated alarm system at the Odessa museum by removing a pane of glass from the window instead of breaking it. Once inside, they sliced the canvas off of its stretcher and disappeared into the night without tripping a single alarm. An original Caravaggio can fetch upwards of $50 million at auction, but as it turns out, the stolen “Caravaggio” was a fake.
5. Businessman, intellectual, and rare books expert Farhad Hakimzadeh was arrested on November 20 for having stolen at least 150 rare maps and manuscripts from the British and Bodleian Libraries. A true emblem of high society, Hakimzadeh stole artifacts and pages worth at least $100,000 in total and yet, for all his thieving prowess, did not attempt to sell a single item. Already a millionaire, he was quite content to admire his treasures at home, stealing only for his personal enjoyment.