Big art theft story: waiting for the other shoe to drop

Headline news:

Some of the world’s most valuable paintings and drawings, valued at more than $27 million, were stolen last week from the Pebble Beach, Calif., home of a retired Harvard Medical School professor and his business partner.

But it all sounds awfully fishy.

The two men are partners in a business that includes buying and selling art, although the stolen pieces were from their personal collection.

Yet these erstwhile pros were keeping their art in a rented house, without insurance?! And they sure don't seem to have much of a grasp of the art market:

Amadio said in an interview last night that he believes the value of the collection increased since 2002, as the two acquired more art, including a 4-foot-by-7-foot Pollock painting thought to be worth at least $20 million and possibly as much as $80 million.

And then there's this:

Internal and external hard drives containing business records and client contact lists were also stolen from Amadio and Kennaugh’s laptop computers, Amadio said.

"Internal drives"?! Maybe memory sticks are meant, but it sure leaves the reader wondering if somebody might just have had something to hide.

Several factors have led the business partners to believe the heist was done by professionals with sophisticated knowledge of the art market.

The old "master art criminals" meme. As we've often noted, theft for ransom is not uncommon, but the notion of black market masterpieces bought by secretive collectors is more myth than reality.

Amadio said that only three or four people in the world knew the two owned some of the pieces and that the thieves took only authenticated paintings, though the collection included some impeccable reproductions that only a skilled eye would be able to distinguish from the original.

A very odd collection that would include "reproductions" of this sort next to genuine top-flight masterworks.

Two of Kennaugh’s favorite Rembrandts were taken, he said, one depicting St. Jude praying and the other a woman in water. Both had hung in the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam.

In the gift shop?

There's more fishiness in other writeups:

A Jackson Pollock, which was among the pieces stolen, had never been on the open market

Put another way, likely totally without provenance.

Both Amadio and Kennaugh believe the heist was an inside job and done by a professional who had knowledge of what art was at the home.

That, I think, is likely correct.

UPDATE: More skepticism in the October 5th Mercury News.

Posted by David on September 30, 2009 5:58 PM