# I pit Someone in the stolen art case **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 7, 2005, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-someone-in-the-stolen-art-case/283624 "2005-01-07T18:59:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-someone-in-the-stolen-art-case/283624/1 "2005-01-07T18:59:33Z")
…but I’m not sure [who](http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050106/ap_on_re_eu/france_stolen_art). Should I pit the son, who compulsively stole priceless works of art? Should I pit the mom, who upon discovery, destroyed many of these works of art? Should I pit modern-day art collectors, who will pay more than $100,000,000 for a painting of a couple flowers in a vase? No, I think I’ll pit Bernard Dastries: > [@Yahoo! News](#): > > Prosecutors in France have estimated the value of the haul at up to $1.32 billion. But others have offered significantly lower estimates and Swiss authorities have also said it was unclear how much the stolen art was worth. > > Bernard Dastries, an official from a French government office for combatting trafficking in cultural relics, told reporters Thursday that the haul was worth an estimated **$13 million to $20 million**. > > Breitwieser, from a well-to-do family in the eastern region of Alsace, could face up to three years in jail for allegedly stealing 23 works in France, plus two in Denmark and one in Austria. Ummmm, hello? One of the paintings, just one, was by Lucas Cranach? Don’t tell me that that painting is worth less than a random painting by a random Impressionist, and that the other pieces of art are _totally worthless_. I guess I’ll cancel my plans to steal Bosch’s Temptation of Saint Anthony, I’ll only fetch a million for it :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-someone-in-the-stolen-art-case/283624/2 "2005-01-07T19:07:36Z")
I thought this was a rehash of an event that happened several years ago but, sadly, it’s just an additional instance. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-someone-in-the-stolen-art-case/283624/3 "2005-01-07T19:15:02Z")
Cases like this demand the death penalty. This guy and his moron parent destroyed part of the past, wiping out irreplaceable pieces of humanity’s cultural patrimony. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-someone-in-the-stolen-art-case/283624/4 "2005-01-07T20:04:50Z")
Woops . . . spoke too soon. This is the [same](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=115592&highlight=thief) case, only just now coming to trial. That’s given reading the list of destroyed works a chance to inflict upon us a second wave of nausea. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-someone-in-the-stolen-art-case/283624/5 "2005-01-07T20:14:52Z")
Mom, charged with concealment and destruction of stolen property, faces up to 5 years in prison. Son, who stole the freaking property in the first place, faces only 3 years in prison. How does _that_ work? ---
**Author:** ![VampyChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5daacb/32.png) [@VampyChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VampyChick)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-someone-in-the-stolen-art-case/283624/6 "2005-01-08T07:05:45Z")
It’s possible Dastries was referring to just the twenty-three pieces stolen in France. The $9 million dollar Lucas Cranach painting was taken from Baden-Baden, Germany, so it wouldn’t figure into the estimate if that was the case. Still, that’s absolutely appalling. ---
**Author:** ![robotic\_panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed8c4c/32.png) [@robotic\_panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robotic_panda)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-someone-in-the-stolen-art-case/283624/7 "2005-01-08T11:07:17Z")
> [@Linked Article](#): > > “She is naive and knows nothing of the value of things,” Breitwieser said of his mother. Mind… reeling. Senses… spinning. She finds out her son is arrested for stealing irreplaceable works of art and she goes and CHOPS THEM UP?? > [@Linked Article again](#): > > “I blew a fuse,” Mireille Breitwieser, who also faces charges, told the court Thursday. “I put everything into trash bags, the metalwork, the ancient porcelains, the ivories, paintings. … I hit them with a hammer to push them down.” Blew a fuse? Jeebus lady. Maybe one day when YOUR masterpiece is stuffed into a garbage disposal by some silly twat who “knows nothing of the value of things”, then you can get outraged. But then again, your masterpiece is probably your thief son, who at least has taste. And obviously, knows “of the value of things.” I can see a mom smashing a bong or something, but, “Stevie’s been an international art thief, I’ll teach him good!” just doesn’t work along those same lines. The thief was wrong, but the mom was insanely wrong, IMO.