Musings from Brian J. Noggle: Irene Is Safe

Irene Is Safe

Three armed men in ski masks stole four paintings by Cezanne, Degas, van Gogh and Monet worth $163.2 million from a Zurich museum in one of Europe's largest ever art heists, police said Monday.

What did they get?

A reward of about $90,000 was offered for information leading to the recovery of the paintings - Claude Monet's "Poppy field at Vetheuil," Edgar Degas' "Ludovic Lepic and his Daughter," Vincent van Gogh's "Blooming Chestnut Branches," and Paul Cezanne's "Boy in the Red Waistcoat."

What didn't they get?

The museum also owns Auguste Renoir's "Little Irene" and Edgar Degas' "Little Dancer."

You know, I have a print of "Little Irene" in my house. How they passed up Renoir for Monet and van Gogh, I cannot understand.

The article claims the following regularly scheduled "Don't try this at home even though the news article has a big dollar amount in its headline" warning:

The FBI estimates the market for stolen art at $6 billion annually, and Interpol has about 30,000 pieces of stolen art in its database. While only a fraction of the stolen art is ever found, the theft of iconic objects, especially by force, is rarer because of the intense police work that follows and because the works are so difficult to sell.

If I were a novelist, or if I were a practicing novelist, this is how I'd plot it out: Russian millionaire who's a big fan of Monet or wants the Monet to impress his hot young figure skater chickling hires the job out at $2 million a man. It's costing him $8 million, but far less than he'd have to pay to buy it at auction or on the black market. The other guys snatch and grab a couple extra for their bonus. They wrap the Monet up and ship it to a dead box in Finland, just standard freight, and keep or sell the remainders. After their $2 million payoff.

But I'd save the real plot twist for what comes next.

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:34 PM