Feb 13th, 2008
Database of stolen works of art
On February 11th, thieves stole four paintings from the Bührle Museum in Zurich. The works of art were produced by Monet, Cézanne, Degas and Van Gogh and are valued at 160 million dollars.
Swiss police offered a reward of 100,000$ for any information leading to the thieves’ arrest. In their search, they can count on Ingrid Blom-Böer who works at the Art Loss Register.
The Art Loss Register has offices in Europe and the USA. Their main goal is to maintain a database of stolen works of art.
How can such a database be relevant?
According to Blom-Böer, art thieves often believe that by the time the media attention surrounding their crime has disappeared, it’ll be safe for them to try and sell the paintings on the art market.
Enters the Art Loss Register. Auction houses, antique dealers, art enthousiasts and police can search the database to make sure a piece of art in their hands hasn’t been stolen. Thanks to that tool, the stolen paintings form Zurich can’t be sold on today’s art market.
The only options left for the thieves are to either sell their stolen paintings on the black market where they serve as currency between criminal groups at a fraction of their value or try to get a ransom from the museum they stole them from.
