As long as the stolen art remains in good condition its value increases enormously once it has been recovered. The story of the art theft adds excitement, mystery, and intrigue to its provenance. Whether the piece is stolen, confiscated, of looted does not seem to make a difference, any of these will do for raising its value. Stolen art is many times difficult to sell and has a lower value, but the motive can also be political or personal rather than monetary, or the piece can be used to trade with other criminals. If the reason for a theft is solely monetary, the art is sometimes returned after the criminal realizes how hard and risky it will be to sell, such as was the case in the theft of a Rembrandt drawing in California this past summer. Some of the even more recent art thefts in California may prove to be more lucrative as stolen sculptures made of metals such as bronze can be melted down and the metal sold.
There are many high profile cases of art theft, some of which are listed on the FBI’s art theft website. A famous case of art theft occurred in 2002 when two thieves broke in through the roof of the Vincent Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and stole two paintings. The suspects were later arrested but the works have not been recovered. The paintings are early works by Van Gogh and are valued at $30 million. If the works are recovered surely their value will increase, but if they are not, it will be a loss of very important cultural and historical property for the Netherlands and the world. The cultural or political ramifications of art theft are many times very significant as in the case of the Nazi looting and destruction of art from different countries in Europe during WWII. Countries or individuals’ identities and histories are tied to their art and the loss of this can be very damaging to a nation, culture, or individual. Art theft or looting can also have damaging political effects especially when there is a conflict over the patrimony of a work, or when it used as part of a political agenda as it was by Hitler.
It was interesting to see in the reading that the investigators are certain of who was behind the theft of art from the Isabella Gardner Museum but have been unable to recover the art or arrest the culprit. The suspect, Boston organized crime boss “Whitey” Bulger, who was on the list of the FBI’s most wanted, was recently found and arrested after having disappeared in 1994. There has been no mention of the art as far as I know but I wonder if they have managed to get any information from him regarding the Isabella Stewart Gardner incident.
These are the works that were stolen from the Vincent Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, "View of the Sea at Scheveningen" and "Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen":
