Famous works of art are often stolen as well we all know but whenever it happens news reports usually claim they were stolen to order. Are there really art collectors out there who would pay top dollar for an item they could never show anyone?
(OK I realise this might not be GQable, although perhaps police have raided homes of rich people and found ill-gotten artistic gains before?)
Do you have a link to any of these news reports?
I’ve only heard of that in fiction. But maybe it happens. Whoever does it probably has a website these days.
If the thieves aren’t caught, and the artwork isn’t recovered how do you know if it was “ordered” and who “ordered” it?
I’m sure that it gets a bit blurry; I doubt someone would attempt to steal ‘The Scream’, ‘The Mona Lisa’ or ‘Starry Night’ without a buyer, in advance.
The Scream: The Scream - Wikipedia
Mona Lisa: Mona Lisa - Wikipedia
You don’t need a buyer to steal famous art – you can simply ransom it.
There’s really no point in hiring someone to steal a famous painting; you won’t be able to tell anyone you have it.
I’ve heard claims that some stolen artwork has been used as collateral in drug deals and other such illicit transactions. I’m not sure I really buy it; again, of what value is an artwork that you can’t show to anyone because it’s hot?
Here’s one example of an art theft that may very well have been to order.
Not quite what you’re looking for, but: Stéphane Breitwieser stole a billion dollars worth of art works and kept them in his bedroom at his mother’s house. She shoved a bunch of them down the garbage disposal.
Why…did…you…tell…me…this? 
I’ll pay $5 for any Gainsborough.
No kidding.
I have the weirdest out of character feeling that this guy should be locked up forever.
Tell that to the thieves who stole several paintings (including Remmbrandt’s only seascape – Storm on the Sea of Galilee) from the Isabella Stewart Gardner in Boston 22 years ago this month. The pieces they took would be conspicuous at any art showing or gallery. They still haven’t been found, salthough rumors abound. If this wasn’t a targeted theft for an individual, then the thieves wanted it themselves – which amounts to the same thing. Certainly nobody has tried to get ransom for them.
There have been many such stolen and not ransomed artworks over the years, some of them masterpieces. Including the Mona Lisa:
I have met people who just want something for themselves.
They’re not interested in telling anyone else - the mere fact that they own the object satisfies them.
OP: whatcha lookin for?
Yes.
Also, they might know people who they can trust with the “I’ll show it to you if you don’t tell anybody else” arrangement.
need answer fast!
There was the case in New York a year or two ago, where some guy found a painting in the trash at the curb. He pulled it out, took it home… while trying to trace the artist by the signature, he found it was stolen over a decade before that. Not a household name artist, but apparently well known in modern art circles… Seems whoever stole/had it left it in the apartment when they moved, and the new owner did not like it.
(EDIT) Oops.Nobody knows who tossed it out.