# Statue of David stolen **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 17, 2008, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statue-of-david-stolen/468374 "2008-10-17T14:03:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Panurge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@Panurge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panurge)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statue-of-david-stolen/468374/1 "2008-10-17T14:03:40Z")
No, it’s not the Michelangelo one, but it’s a pretty daring theft nonetheless. It is a big bronze statue of king David from 1860 that usually guards the entrance to Copenhagen’s Cathedral (Vor Frue Kirke). [Story in English here.](http://politiken.dk/newsinenglish/article584483.ece) It was not stolen from the church itself, but from the courtyard of a stonemason who had it in for repair. The thing is: What are the thieves going to do with it? Sell it? - and to whom? They might have a buyer in advance, but the whole thing just seems crazy. It’s not really the sort of thing you can hide in somebody’s attic for a few years and then put on the market. Has anyone heard of similar cases? ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statue-of-david-stolen/468374/2 "2008-10-17T14:07:16Z")
Doesn’t someone keep nicking [The Mermaid’s head](http://www.fantompoet.com/images/20070331213622_blog_copenhagen_mermaid_statue.jpg) as well? Damn, have they not heard of CCTV in Denmark? ---
**Author:** ![Panurge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@Panurge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panurge)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statue-of-david-stolen/468374/3 "2008-10-17T14:15:53Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > Doesn’t someone keep nicking [The Mermaid’s head](http://www.fantompoet.com/images/20070331213622_blog_copenhagen_mermaid_statue.jpg) as well? > Damn, have they not heard of CCTV in Denmark? Yep. Several times. She also lost an arm once, and in 2003 someone blew the statue of its rock with dynamite. Wikipedia has a list of the [“mermaid incidents”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Mermaid_(statue)). It would have been more fun if they had just taken David’s head last night. And no, we aren’t all that keen on surveillance by CCTV here, thank God, but I am afraid that it will be forced upon us in a not too distant future. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statue-of-david-stolen/468374/4 "2008-10-17T14:28:47Z")
With the price of scrap metal these days, I bet he was broken down to sell for scrap. Thieves don’t care about the history or artistic merit when they can get drug money in an hour by breaking it up. StG ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Corey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statue-of-david-stolen/468374/5 "2008-10-17T19:15:07Z")
A similar thing happened in New Jersey recently. Thieves stole a civil war memorial, cut it up, and melted it down. They got $3000 for all the metal. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statue-of-david-stolen/468374/6 "2008-10-17T23:53:56Z")
also in new jersey someone stole a horse statue from the old garden state park. the statue was worth hundreds of thousands, the metal… a handfull of thousands. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statue-of-david-stolen/468374/7 "2008-10-18T01:14:47Z")
The statue of a war here here kept getting the sword stolen by thieves. Sold for the metal. That particular crime offends me in ways that are not rational. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statue-of-david-stolen/468374/8 "2008-10-18T01:27:33Z")
Or it could be sold to a collector. There are lots of collectors who will pay lots of money for stolen art objects. ☹ I hope it wasn’t melted down. I hope they find it again. ---
**Author:** ![Panurge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@Panurge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panurge)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statue-of-david-stolen/468374/9 "2008-10-18T20:34:33Z")
The value of the bronze is estimated to be around $7200 - not much compared to how much the statue is worth. I almost hope that it is sold to a collector, but who would buy it (and where would they keep it)?