When half a billion dollars' worth of art vanished 

It sounds like a good idea for a comedy movie in the 90's starring Pauly Shore.

Gabriel Rivas take the Rembrandts buhdee!

jbvap it never ceases to amaze me, that most of the so called intellects have the common sense of a box of rocks!

you get what you paid for

Bassist or guitarist ?

The curator is living in a dream world and should have quit immediately after the heist. And she thinks those paintings may be returned out of the goodness of someone's heart. Let's just hope that whoever has possession them for now, knows how to care for them so they don't deteriorate any farther after being hacked from their centuries old frames. Good gawd!

They knew enough. They were not that unsophisticated. Just because some of the stolen items were inexplicably included in the theft doesn't mean unsophisticated.

Who's Your Daddy? - Hindsight will always be 20/20

They had a standard security system for the time period. This happened almost 30 years ago before they had every work of art alarmed individually. No museum did that in those days. You can't judge someone in the past based on modern standards.

@@nunyabiznez6381 Yes, that was then and this is now. However, no one in their right mind would have hired people so totally unaware. By the by, the "guards" we said to be taking drugs.

right?

not a hippie, a low life criminal. the guard was the guy on the inside who let the burglers in on purpose

no joke i think i found one of the paintings who would i contact

Contact this guy: Kevin Mills Anthony Amore Director of Security 617 278 5114 theft@gardnermuseum.org

That totally sounds like something Hank would say.

Eric x That was worth the price of a Rembrandt 😆😆😆

Hahahaha good one

Never trust Weird Al security

The real crime is the FBI can't find the loot.

Hahahahaha

This was 20 yrs ago where security is still different than right now.

@@meynardrocas3574 True, Mr. Rocas. Not only that, but Abbott was involved. No security system in the world can undo the "inside man". This art theft has the feel of an orchestrated hit; some private collectors wanted this art and ordered this hit. Big money (private collectors) have no ethics whatsoever. While the thieves were getting the punch-list pieces, they picked up multiple other pieces, thus the mistakes they made in selections.

@@lekkki1 I think you are right, this was planned and the art sits now in the personal galleries of the collectors who paid to have them stolen. It could have involved 1 or 10 collectors, but they will never give them up. The world will see them again when they either die, lose their fortunes, or in a war being un-covered by the victor

@@meynardrocas3574 yes, but still...you should know that you are guarding a priceless collection and that you should check before you let strangers in.... I mean there must be an emergency "procedure" right?

@@lekkki1 I agree.... they could also do that purposely... a red herring sort of speak.

Stolzing82 If they were not intelligent enough to research how to remove a painting, and not just a painting- a Rembrandt, then I think most of this was pure dumb luck

@@harrypottermovie2390 The thieves didn't know how to remove the paintings withought damaging them.They left behind many other valuable paintings. The paintings haven't be sold or used as bargaining chips or ransom.

lol quit clowing.

@@harrypottermovie2390 This is how the mafia ALWAYS steals art. Just look at the recovered art stolen from France that was eventually found in a Sicilian mobsters home. Cut out the same way, with boxcutters. Also look up the stolen Church painting, ripped out the same way. To make matters worse, they tore a piece of the canvas off and sent it proving they had it. These crooks have all this stolen art. We will never see it again in our lifetimes. They have no preservation in mind, and most are probably so decrepit now that extensive restoration would never bring them back to their former glory.

This is what happened to the priceless violin stolen that went missing for 50 years.... a guy just saw his chance and took it. He wanted it for himself and played it for years but nobody knew it was a Stradivarius. He confessed on his death bed. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Q9aVKP4jG80.html

You should tell the FBI that, who knows, at this point they're probably really desperate for tips

It's weird to realize you probably met a real criminal.

Or maybe he went back to Switzerland again lmfao 😂

Except in boston i knew a son of the shah, kids of diplomats, wealthy financeers, and old money jet setters and im just a nobody. It's like seeing an actor in Los Angeles. My guess is the Rosetti gang were involved.

Probably closer than the FBI got.

🔥

Seriously!! Does he think that the collectors who bought the paintings from the thieves would have sent him a receipt or something?

Because it is unlikely that they could have been sold. If I wanted a priceless work of art in my collection and it was not for sale and I was inclined towards illegally acquiring it I would make sure the thieves knew enough to take the piece intact and not cut it out of the frame which destroys much of the value both monetarily and esthetically. It is like stealing a valuable collectible Star Wars action figure by ripping open the package and leaving it behind. Anyone who knows anything about art knows not to do that. They had 81 minutes. A good thief would have taken down ALL the paintings in that time and left them in the frames. They would have had a large van to put them in. Then they would have delivered them to the collector who hired them. They would have been paid their one or two million dollars. But these were not good thieves. They were bungling idiots. They left behind most of the value of work in that museum. They were there far too long and they irreparably damaged every work they stole. You can't fence famous works of art. You can fence things that are rare but not unique but you can never fence something unique because eventually word would get out. A local pawn shop, even a dishonest one won't touch something like that. They can't display it for sale. If you stole some unique work made of solid gold you can't sell it as is you'd have to melt it down and sell the scrap gold getting maybe 1% of the intrinsic value. No these pieces are lost forever because the thieves didn't know they could not be fenced so they disposed of the evidence and have kept themselves in hiding all this time. I do not believe the theory that they moved to Connecticut then New York. They ceased to exist within weeks of the day they were stolen. At best they are in a landfill somewhere having long since rotted away.

For one thing, no such thing as a good thief. For another, in those days they did not alarm paintings or their frames. They had alarms in the rooms. It simply did not occur to most museums to do so and for another alarms were far too big and cumbersome to do so without ruining the esthetic which after all is what museums are about. I know because I have worked in major art museums and spent a number of years as a picture framer. Even a stupid rich collector would have known not to cut the pictures out of the frames. In fact a collector would have instructed the thieves not to do so. I collect. not on that scale but I collect and condition is everything. I would NEVER pay someone to obtain something in such a crude manner destroying part of what makes the art special. I don't think you know anything about art or you would understand this very important fact. Collectors are fanatical about preserving condition. When I worked in an art gallery a gentleman came in with a Dali limited edition signed print that was probably worth around $2500 at the time. It had been damaged. He wanted to find someone to restore it. We facilitated an arrangement with an expert in art restoration. The bill came to $36,000. Our gallery got 15%. So our cut was more than double what the print would have been worth in mint condition but that is how art collectors think. They don't care about price, they want it perfect. If these art thieves were working for a collector, I guarantee the collector told them to F**k off for ruining the pieces. Personally I would prefer a mint condition Maxfield Parish than shredded Renoir.

Gonzalo Saldana they were not insured..

@Juan Perez no one laughed Juan

yeah somehow someone had inside knowledge of the security at night and in the museum it seems. It seems pretty clear..

@@erxfav3197 Maybe they should have hired Security guard Ben Stiller for that Night at the Museum. Ha!

I think you might be surprised how little security there is around certain extremely valuable objects that aren't typically stolen because it just never occurs to thieves to steal these things. In the Pacific Northwest we had a child on a long crime spree stealing boats and airplanes, because they're not protected. There are million dollars boats just parked, ready to steal, they don't get stolen because thieves don't think to steal them.

Hahahahaha

@@st0n3p0ny barefoot bandit just served his 7 years

Pansvelţoşkinßorvå Glaageņoso'obï YES!!!!!!! I’m heartbroken that piece was taken. My most favorite

If they were that sophisticated, they would’ve known that there was glass in front of the painting and wouldn’t have had to cut the paintings out of the frame. The paintings could’ve been slashed when the glass broke.

Basically how our law upholders are.

jbvap we are never giving the paintings back. We must free the art from all museums.

Why would the ever say, "they never got a dime"? Really, I'd assume they got much much more than a "dime"!

Dodged a Bullet the FBI loves to use reverse psychology to trigger suspects.

"ahem"?

GOT THE SUSPECT RIGHT HERE EVERYBODY!!!!

exactly

Because quite possibly, he was planted there as the "useful idiot".

Because nothing ever happens the overwhelming majority of the time. Think about how boring your actual life is 99% of the time. There are a thousand 23-year-old goofballs guarding priceless stuff all over the world right now, and none of it will make a difference because no robber will show up.

Museum was too cheap to hire professional security staff.

@@raymondfrye5017 Hmmmmmmm. Maybe you got something there.

Reminder that Boston is dumb.

I worry they may have been misplaced or damaged some how.

@@samanthab1923 Guaranteed. With a $5 million reward you'd think they find someone to sacrifice themselves to claim it.

highly interesting? that sounds like a comment devoid of ethics and morals.. quite disgusting sadly

Yes it is

@Will Roberts wtf, how does it suck

@@erxfav3197 You can be interested in crime without being a criminal. What are you, like 5 years old?

Yes both are interesting topics. I collect on a lower level pieces unlikely to be counterfeited. But even I as a non expert could determine if something is counterfeit or not. In virtually every case you can look up the artist and learn what makes a piece authentic and what makes it a fake. If I was a billionaire and wanted to spend $100 million on a piece you can be sure I will make myself an expert before I spend that kind of money on a painted doodle to hang on my wall. Theft is another matter altogether. You can't fence anything famous but bungling idiots often do not know this. You can't take a Rembrandt to your local pawn shop. First thing they will think it's a fake. If they are smart enough to investigate further they will bring in an expert like you see on TV and that expert will tell them it's been stolen. It's not like Rembrandt mass produced his works. Some artists have. Signed limited editions are more easily sold but are not worth nearly as much. I have a 16th century woodcut print made by an extremely famous artist. But my print, made from his wood cut plate is a later print and therefore not terribly valuable, I paid $500 for it which is about what it is worth. But an early impression would be worth more than ten times that much mostly due to superior quality of the print. The more you use a wood block printing plate the more you wear down on it so the less valuable each successive print is. To counterfeit an early one is possible but incredibly difficult. So what an art expert would do is simply visit a museum where such a print exists and look for little tells that indicate authenticity and compare the museum piece with the one you are looking to buy. A seller should be willing to do this. Beware of any seller that does not want you to check out authenticity this way. Most counterfeiters go on line and look for the image and then use a high resolution printer to print it out on heavy stock paper that looks old or that they try to make look old. Then they represent it as authentic to some poor sap who has a little art knowledge but not enough to realize how to tell a fake from a real piece of art. Higher level counterfeiters are artists who are good enough to copy an artist's style to a degree that would fool 99% of the public and 1% of auction houses and art gallery owners. Part of what sells a counterfeit piece is sales technique and part is the buyer's hunger to own a famous work of art. If you stick to lower level works of art you are virtually immune from such victimhood due to the fact that it would cost more to counterfeit such art than to simply buy an authentic piece and then resell it. This is why it is rare to find counterfeit one dollar bills. Recently one came into the business where I am a manager and everyone thought it was fake but it merely was damaged. I looked at it under magnification and it is indeed real as I thought it would be. But some rare thoughtful people have actually counterfeited ones. A successful counterfeiting of a twenty usually starts by chemically removing the ink from an authentic one dollar bill. Also learn about an artist and their work before buying a piece of theirs. Some artists who produced limited edition signed prints often just simply signed thousands of blank paper sheets and had their workers then print on them cheap versions of the original. Got to know what you are dealing with.

I KNOW! !_!

omfug My absolutely favorite Master!!!! I remember when I first heard of this, and presumed it would be recovered soon enough. It is now 2019, and I fear I will not live long enough for it’s return and for me to be able to see it in person.

As an artist, I've copied few old master's paintings, now that I've learned about Vermeer's painting, I'm thinking of painting a copy of it.

genius?? disgusting comment, not to mention assumptive

@@erxfav3197 It was the perfect crime. No one has been identified, let alone arrested. It's a nearly 30 year old cold case.

Oh i didn't know that thanks for sharing

@@margaretkearsey734 alsjo if you dress up like a cop i hear you can get in for free and even take a few souvenirs…

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xUBaXY6w02A.html

Bummer! My Dad & Grandma were artists, hate to see any of their work disappear.

This looks like Bosch.

Probably only an artist can appreciate that feeling, as you say. Sorry that happened to you!

Lol

It wasn't Laura Bush. She clearly said her name in the beginning

Je s I’ve got some swamp land to sell you in Florida!

Seth Clements 🤣

🤎

Vermeer's older and rarer.

Herman47 It’s so beautiful!

Vermeer and Rembrandt were living in the same time. Vermeer is higher usually in pricing at the market, but this picture of Rembrandt is one of his best works!

Herman47 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱 There are no other works of art as impressive as a Vermeer!

I can 't say it's more impressive as I have not seen either up close which I would have to in order to render a valid opinion but I certainly like the image of it more. But then I have a general preference for good seascapes. They are both profoundly beautiful paintings either way.

Lol, good one.!!

Not rolled up. They just said it can’t be rolled up.

Haha, funny you mention it because practically that very thing happened in New Mexico where a stolen de Koonig was recovered within the last year or so. There’s a doc on youtube about it but I forget the title. Something CBS

Garage "sell"? F*cking idiot. I see the education system in the future still sucks.

Wendell Beverly 💀

If you don't get it, you don't get it.

Jo Ann Rust The Vermeer 😱😰😰😰

thats disgusting to say.. criminal and twisted

The Vermeer is the most valuable piece of lost art in the world. You don't know what you're talking about.

BorBorReborn ♥️

YES! The Vermeer 😰😰😰

Kenneth Lewis Sr Ooo that’s tea that too hot to be sipped

You raise a great point.

@@peepindis no he does not

the varying artifacts from tombs or pyramids are not "stolen"... their creators are long gone and they are instead being curated by professional establishments who are responsible in and for preserving them for the general public. They are visible to practically anyone during regular business or visiting hours from what I know. Stolen is what happened to these paintings And having an unrelated grudge seems to be what you have

Hold up. Arabs ruled Egypt not africans. DONT GO WE WUZ KANGS ON ME SIR! U AINT "WOKE"

Maureen BZap NO NOT THE VERMEER!!! 😰

Art students....that's the level of security staff protecting a $ billion in priceless art....

Omg, good one.!!

The Chez Tortoni is by Edouard MANET not Claude MONET.

@da96106. Right. Monet was into art bigly.

😆

lmao

and so are your spelling skills

@@Marcel-Marcel Technically his spelling was all correct, his grammar was not.

no it was not. It was a crime against humanity and a museum, and despicable. Just as your comment sadly.

it wasn't it it was the work of slimy , greedy criminals. what is artistic about slimy criminal oozing with filthy greed gobbling up beauty because they are filthy greedy criminals. you dingbat

Maybe it's possibly under someone's nose!

Just bring it back. Do it in public so no one can do anything to you. You can not be charged.

It's all "made up" by useless, stuck up elites. They're the same ones that would profess the "sophistication" of a piece that was splattered by a three year old.

Can you paint like Vermeer?

Give me $38,000,000, and I'll figure out how.

Richard Powell EXACTLY!!!!!

I dont think they are hanging on anyones wall.. I doubt it incredibly much.. they are likely in some storage or attic somewhere as the police said or at a large stretch some corrupt millionaire/billionaires possession elsewhere in the world. My question is how do they know the original theives are dead? And wasnt there only one guard tied up? Also was that a true story about Rose from the Titanic having a priceless ring?

Cringe edgelord take. I agree they’re overvalued and I hate modern art but those Rembrandt’s are actual European culture

Yeah man I'm struggling to figure out how the thieves could make money. Only legit collectors have the big bucks and no legit collector would want stolen art that can land them in jail so...

@@johnnn5592 they’re in a Audi Arabian princes basement

You may be right, but the current possessors might just as well be surrounded by others who are just as crooked, who view and admire the theft as prestigious, and who are so rich that the $5 million reward is a joke to them (in addition to the potential dangers of snitching). Considering the loss of key evidence by the FBI after the theft, it would surprise me very little if I were to learn that the thieves are connected deeply inside the US justice system, that they are among the very same ultra rich people who already completely own the US and its government, and that there are multiple 'owners' now of this stuff.

@@charlesleseau thats JUST a little conspiracy theorist dont you think? If you keep assuming things and basing other assumptions over assumptions you will find yourself in a mess of a web with no end in sight

know the low life criminals still have the art and its too hot to move.

And all you people better STAY AWAY from my mansion!

According to some the pieces are buried under oodles of concrete in FL.

I thought the same thing.

James anonymous Great hint

Very Sad

But probably left the country a short time thereafter, in those days, security in airports was, well, there was no security.

Hmmm, yah. At a museum exhibition of Rembrandts the guide said that he was the most faked artist of the lot. That is, art forgers copy him more than any other artist.

+Taylor ∆ There were 2 gaurd's that night and the regular guard called off and a sub was there.

one of the guards were in on it.

Taylor Madison ...why was the 2nd guard ever publically named....hmmmm...

I think the homely lady was inonit...the heist and caper. ..definitely

@@lia1063 really? thats suspicious for certain..

John Noonan I'm so interested if they'll find it, I hope I'll be alive when that day will be there

Im thankful for positive and clean comments like these

@@erxfav3197 CRAP!

dizzybynature no, I think she means Beethoven 7. That’s what was playing in the background.

i didnt even notice the background music.. i thought she was just speaking about his most famous masterpiece..

@@Runninace haha

Im glad someone cares unlike these other comments.. what a comment I am glad

The 7th aside from the ode to Joy itself is the most joyful work in the history of man.