"Stealing art from a museum is usually a bone-headed thing to do; even the least scrupulous collectors know better than to buy goods that are so recognizably hot. Many museum heists are committed by career criminals who are far better at figuring out how to defeat security systems than they are at planning what they'll do next. They're soon caught, whether turned in by an honest dealer or snared in a sting."
"Only a few thieves have wrested some value from museum heists, usually by stealing artifacts made from precious metals that can be melted down and disposed of at any shop with a "we buy gold" sign hanging out front. Yogi Berra's World Series rings disappeared this way. The royal bling recently stolen from the Louvre likely met the same fate."
"Museums may have security flaws - the most crucial of which is the unavoidable fact that whoever buys a ticket can get within a few inches of multi-million dollar artifacts - but local authorities are more than eager to make up for these flaws by investigating the hell out of a theft. Thus, unless you can persuade an associate to do the actual breaking in, you likely won't be free long enough to enjoy your profits."
Stealing art from a museum is usually ill-advised because stolen artworks are easily recognized and hard to sell. Many heists are carried out by criminals skilled at bypassing security but poor at planning escape or disposal, leading to rapid capture. Thieves who extract value typically target precious-metal items that can be melted and sold anonymously. Museum security suffers from the reality that paying visitors can approach expensive objects closely, while local authorities pursue thefts aggressively. Myles Connor stands out as a rare figure who successfully profited from lifting a museum painting after growing up visiting the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Read at Hyperallergic
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]