$163 Million Art Heist In Zurich

Armed Robbers Take Paintings By Cezanne, Degas, Van Gogh and Monet

(CBS/AP)  Armed robbers have stolen four paintings worth $163.2 million, including works by Monet, van Gogh, Cezanne and Degas from a Zurich museum, police said Monday.

Police in the Swiss financial center said the theft of the four paintings from the E.G. Buehrle Collection, one of Europe's finest private museums for Impressionist and post-Impressionist art, occurred Sunday. Three masked men who entered the building with pistols are still at large, they said.

Police called the heist a "spectacular art robbery".

Cezanne's "Boy in the Red Waistcoat" was among the works stolen from the private Buehrle museum in the eighth district, according to police.

The prosperous and peaceful outer eighth district on the eastern shore of Lake Zurich is home to several notable art collections.

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 pieces are ever found, the theft of iconic objects is rare because of the intense police work that follows and because the works are so difficult to sell.

The incident recalled other thefts that have hit Switzerland's museums and galleries over the years.

Last week, Swiss police reported that two Pablo Picasso paintings were stolen from a Swiss exhibition near Zurich. The two oil paintings, "Tete de cheval" ("Head of horse") and "Verre et pichet" ("Glass and pitcher"), were on loan from the Sprengel Museum in Hannover, Germany.

In 1994, seven Picasso paintings worth an estimated $44 million were stolen from a gallery in Zurich. They were recovered in 2000, and a Swiss man and two Italians were jailed for the theft.

In the late 1980s, three armed men robbed a Zurich art gallery, making off with 21 Renaissance paintings worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

[josiehood]

have you ever wondered why 90% of priceless art is normally ugly? and how the heck exactly do you "steal" art from a public place? no one notices you leaving with this under your shirt? hrm....

[lochlan-2009]

How much does it cost to get someone to steal $163million dollars worth of insured art for you so you cand turn around and sell it on the black market?

[harp1963]

Stealing is truely one of the ten commandments written for the spiritually dumb.

[rushlimpdrug]

Boy, someone must be in a world of hurt for some artwork.

So even the filty rich are filthy crooks.

"Nice art work Miles, where did you steal it from?"

[cyberus-2009]

Smart money says the insurers get contacted, the art will be found after a "tip" leads police somewhere, which of course will occur right after a large amount of money gets transmitted to a Cayman Island account.
Its rare that any recognizable famous artwork gets stolen for anything but ransom.

[vittoria1]

Cyberus, as a professional in this field, I can tell you that much fine art is underinsured (some is not insured at all), because the premiums are so expensive. The important work lost in some quite famous thefts has never been recovered. Josiehood, you may have noticed that the thieves were carrying pistols -- that''s how they got away with the paintings. As for "ugliness," you don''t have to like much great art -- that''s a matter of taste -- but you might want take a little time to learn why the art you dislike so much is considered "great" by professionals like me.