Fine Art Insurance: FBI’s Top 10 Art Crimes

Iraq National Museum. In 2003, 10,000 artifacts were taken by U.S. Department of Defense contractors who used them as gifts or bribes. Seven to ten thousand remain missing.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Two men dressed as Boston police entered the  museum during St. Patrick’s Day, tied up the night guards, and stole 11 paintings, including a Rembrandt, Dega, Manet, and Vermeer worth up to $500 million. The paintings have yet to be recovered.

Oratory of San Lorenzo. Two thieves removed a painting by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, estimated to be worth $20 million, from its frame in October 1969.

Apartment of concert violinist Erica Morini. A Stradivarius violin, known as the Davidoff-Morini Stradivarius and made in 1727. The violin is worth $3 million.

The Van Gogh Museum. Two thieves stole two of Van Gogh’s paintings, together valued at $30 million. The two were convicted for the theft but the paintings have yet to be recovered.

Ashmolean Museum. A thief broke into the museum on New Year’s Eve 1991 and stole a Cezanne landscape painting valued at $3 million.

Gallery, West Hollywood, CA. Burglars stole two oil paintings by Maxfield Parrish- the paintings, two panels of a series, were cut from their frames and valued at $4 million.

Museu Chacara Do Ceu, Rio De Janiero. Four paintings by Salvador Dali, Henri Matisee, Pable Picasso, and Claude Money were stolen from the museum- no value has been established.

Art Gallery of New South Wales. A self-portrait by Dutch Master Frans Van Mieris was stolen in Sydney Australia- estimates value the painting around $1 million.

Private Home in Houston. A masked man stole an oil painting by French Impressionist Pierre Auguste Renoir, estimated $1 million.

Two of the FBI’s top art crimes involved pieces that weren’t stolen from national museums or exhibits. They were stolen from private homes. As an art collector, you hope that will never happen to you, but it is essential to be prepared. Make sure to protect your fine art and jewelry with a policy from Sinclair Risk & Financial Management. A Fine Arts Floater Insurance policy is one of the most important, yet most overlooked, aspects of an overall financial program. Contact us today for more information about our Fine Art Insurance programs. (877) 602-2305