# What do thieves do with stolen art? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 29, 2015, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-thieves-do-with-stolen-art/721116 "2015-05-29T14:30:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dahu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahu/32/3416_2.png) [@Dahu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahu)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-thieves-do-with-stolen-art/721116/21 "2025-10-20T22:14:30Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > Anecdotally, as I’ve no real cite, the mega-rich will supposedly order stolen or buy stolen art. I’ve got no cite either so this is also anecdotally, but there was a guy on BBC Radio 5 this morning who said steal-to-order (for private enjoyment) is pure Hollywood fantasy. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-thieves-do-with-stolen-art/721116/22 "2025-10-20T22:29:22Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Sometimes museums aren’t too careful about the provenance of their collections. Of course, sometimes museums quite openly steal their collections, and as long as the victims are from a less-developed country, everyone turns a blind eye. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-thieves-do-with-stolen-art/721116/23 "2025-10-20T22:39:11Z")
Oh, like “The Thomas Crown Affair” (either one). I meant more along the lines of Jackmannii where whether the unscrupulous owner “ordered it stolen” or there’s some underground Christies where there’s a steady supply of incoming purloined goods. Of course there’s the Nazi’s and others who reckon stuff taken as war prizes is fair game. If anyone comes across the Amber Room that was in the Russian Summer Palace and taken by the Nazis - it was then lost - and about 11 years ago rebuilt as well as they could - they’d still like it back. > [@Jackmannii](#): > > Sometimes museums aren’t too careful about the provenance of their collections. The curator of the British Museum was stealing stuff from their vast basement - again mostly stuff the Egyptians might say was stolen from them by the Britisih - and selling it straight up on eBay. Yet from what I heard - even though these guys dropped a crown - if they’re smart they’ve got someone to cut into little pieces and sell it legit-ish. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-thieves-do-with-stolen-art/721116/24 "2025-10-20T23:23:28Z")
Cutting something into little bits isn’t a high-skill thing. You or i could probably do it with the right tools. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2025, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-thieves-do-with-stolen-art/721116/25 "2025-10-21T00:12:32Z")
To be clear, cutting big gems into smaller-but-still-large gems takes skill. But pulling the gems out of their settings, melting the settings into lumps of precious metals, and selling the individual smaller gems and the lumps of gold don’t take a lot of skill. And apparently they didn’t take the pieces dominated by a single huge gem, but the ones that have lots of smaller gems. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2025, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-thieves-do-with-stolen-art/721116/26 "2025-10-21T02:05:40Z")
They might still get nailed if they present a bag of emeralds or diamonds with certain “defects” in them. That’s how any jeweler can tell a fake diamond - they’re too perfect. So even if they’ve got someone skilled to cut gems, they risk getting caught if a couple pieces have the same “defects” which the Louvre would certainly have documented and I’d imagine a deluge of crafted emeralds and diamonds will call for some scrutiny. I saw mostly jewels so the metals melted down should be worth something. Make it easy for the French police: Who is selling gold and silver and gemstones of rare and unusually cut quality.. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2025, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-thieves-do-with-stolen-art/721116/27 "2025-10-22T17:31:16Z")
> [@Dahu](#): > > I’ve got no cite either so this is also anecdotally, but there was a guy on BBC Radio 5 this morning who said steal-to-order (for private enjoyment) is pure Hollywood fantasy I saw that as well, but they also say that there’s no way to sell stolen artwork, either. And yet, these kinds of thefts still happen. The loot has to be going somewhere, right? Or are there just dozens of people out there who pulled off a major art heist once in their lives, and are now stuck with the paintings sitting around their house? I can understand the “experts” claiming there’s no market for stolen art, in hopes of dissuading the next big heist, but I don’t really believe them. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2025, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-thieves-do-with-stolen-art/721116/28 "2025-10-22T17:38:11Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > > [@puzzlegal](#): > > > > Unless the building burns down, they probably will eventually be recovered. They are both well known, and “obviously attractive”. Anyone doing demolition, say, who came upon them would likely recognize them as worth something. If, indeed, they are in an attic, and not on the bedroom wall of some wealthy collector. > > My rich uncle dies. I’m no art specialist, I might not realize that that painting in his attic is a stolen Picasso or Van Gogh or \_\_\_. Even if I hire an estate liquidator who tells me that it’s an expensive stolen piece I may elect to quietly dispose of it rather than invite scrutiny & sully his otherwise good name. Meh, I thought it was a copy, off to the dumpster it went. It’s not like I’d be able to sell it & make anything from it. I listened to a piece on NPR last night with an art-thieving expert from CUNY, iirc. She says paintings are fragile, and if the paintings from the Gardener are stuck in an attic somewhere, they’ve probably decayed. 😢 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-thieves-do-with-stolen-art/721116/29 "2025-11-09T05:07:02Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > …I’ve heard “The Scream” keeps getting stolen every couple of years like some Frat-house prank. Just twice, actually, most recently in 2004: [The Scream - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scream#Thefts) ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-thieves-do-with-stolen-art/721116/30 "2025-11-09T09:26:14Z")
There’s an in-joke about this is the first James Bond film, _Dr No_. Somewhere in the supervillain’s secret lair, Bond walks past Goya’s _Portrait of the Duke of Wellington_ which had been stolen from London’s National Gallery the year before. Bond only frowns briefly as he sees the painting but does not say anything, so you need to know the story to notice the joke. The original painting has since been returned to the National Gallery. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-thieves-do-with-stolen-art/721116.md?page=1)