News
Added 11/15/11
Interpol confirms Libyan treasure was looted
A largely forgotten cache of thousands of antiquities was taken by thieves months after Benghazi was seized by rebel forces in the wake of the rebellion against the late Muammar Gaddafi. There have been reports that 500 coins and other antiquities from the Benghazi Treasure have turned up in Egypt, but these remain unconfirmed.
read more at The Art Newspaper ...
Head sold at Christie’s stolen from Libya
A Roman head of a woman, which was sold at Christie's in London on 14 April, had been stolen in Libya. It was bought at auction by an Italian for £91,250 and has now been recovered in Italy by the carabinieri.
read more at The Art Newspaper ...
Added 11/03/11
Painting stolen by Nazis returned to Montrealer's estate
An 18th-century Dutch painting that once belonged to the prominent German-Canadian art dealer Max Stern has been returned to the dealer's estate.
read more at The Globe and Mail ...
Added 09/21/11
Police cracking down on a hotbed of hot art in Quebec
The story of how Quebec became home to one of the leading art-theft units in the world through the efforts of a Montreal Police Service detective.
read more at The Globe and Mail ...
Added 09/15/11
Stolen Art by Warhol Is Double Mystery in California and Worldwide
The Los Angeles theft of 10 silkscreen paintings from Andy Warhol’s "Athlete Series" has police and people in the art world scratching their heads. Essentially unmarketable due to the transparency of the Warhol market, the paintings were stolen from the West Los Angeles home of Richard L. Weisman, a businessman and prominent collector. A reward has been offered for recovery of the paintings.
read more at Art Knowledge News ...
Added 09/09/11
Stolen Paintings: A Mystery for Montclair Artists
An art crime mystery continues to baffle its victims, including Montclair artists William Mallory and Jessica Licciardello. The pair were among those exhibiting work in a group show at Hudson 23, a gallery/restaurant in Oak Ridge/West Milford, NJ.
Added 08/18/11
Stolen Rembrandt turns up in L.A.-area church
A Rembrandt drawing stolen from a Los Angeles-area hotel has been recovered at a church in nearby Encino. An anonymous tip led investigators to the church on Monday, and experts from the Linearis Institute, which owns the drawing, later verified its authenticity. The church is in no way associated with the theft.
read more at NationalPost.com ...
Added 04/12/11 - Armenian restitution claims grow - Legal cases relating to objects looted during the Armenian massacres (of 1915 to 1918 and 1920 to 1923) are on the rise. This brief article looks to an ongoing case brought against the Getty Museum last year by the California-based Armenian Apostolic Church. The litigation--which deals with pages torn from a medieval Armenian Bible almost a century ago--opens the doors for cases against museums for holding looted Armenian art.
