Hello,
A Van Gogh waa stolen overnight from a museum in Amsterdam. I understand a painting by a Master is worth 10s, to 100s of millions, but what can you do with it? You can’t fence it like a TV, every law enforcement agency is one the look out.
So, the only scenario I can imagine is a wealthy private collector paid some thieves to steal it to put in his private collection. But who can you show it to? People know you have a new Van Gogh and that’s going to be impossible to keep quiet.
And how long can the private collector keep it quiet? It’s going to be found out eventually, if not next year, then next decade or next century. Does the illegal purchaser simply accept the risk and hope he outlives it?
When happens when it is discovered, even if next century? Surely this sort of thing has actually happened. Does the ultimate “owner” just shrug his shoulders, and say, “I dunno. I inherited it from my father. No idea how he got it.”, and then return it for free to the rightful heirs?
For the record, most valuable artworks are stored in art warehouses near ports so that the rich private collectors don’t have to pay import duties. They are just an investment and most public eyes will never see them.
Pay the Danegeld and never get rid of the Dane. I’d expect an insurance company wouldn’t want to be known as paying ransoms unless ransom insurance had specifically been bought. But maybe I’m wrong about that.
Doesn’t that kick the can down the road? If I give you a painting as collateral and don’t pay up, you have the painting but you can’t cash it in. The point of collateral is being able to liquidate it if you don’t get payment.
I think OP’s hypothesis is the most probable one. Some ultra-rich type who will go to ridiculous lengths to feel special/superior to other ultra-rich types, periodically going to his vault to admire his Preciousss.
You need to have a few folks like that, but once you have a few, then others will value it because they can (potentially) sell it to those unethical rich collectors. They don’t even need to actually sell it to them, because they can sell it to other criminals, who will value it for the same reason.
When is the last time you or anyone you knew was in the Saudi royal families home where their women let their hair down? Or in Putin’s private residence? Or a drug lords hideaway? Who in their right mind would tell? First they would call you a liar trying to get attention, then you would receive a message that you would soon disappear.
The delightful Audrey Hepburn-Peter O’Toole movie “How To Steal A Million” has some pretty good simplified insights into what can happen to a stolen priceless objet d’art.
But then what is the value of having it if you can’t tell the world you have it? That’s the only reason I can think of to want this sort of thing. Rich people get fancy art to show off how rich they are.
Plenty of Arab Sheiks and Russian Oligarchs out there to maintain a huge black market. To say nothing of corrupt rulers in places like Venezuela, China, etc.
I would suppose that like most stolen goods, it has to be sold for pennies on the dollar. Steal a million dollar painting and you would be lucky to get a hundred thousand dollars for it. (A dime on the dollar.) That seems like such an inefficient thing to do. But consider the buyer is also stuck with it. He or his estate would have a hell of a time unloading it. Would the buyer’s family also want to keep the silly thing in a private room for another few decades? The would also have a hard time selling it on.
I suppose the thieves make their money. After that the idea of art as an investment seems to fail.