DARING THIEVES

Evening Star, Issue 23717, 26 October 1940, Page 12

DARING THIEVES

MEN STEAL OLD PAINTINGS Of all criminals the art thief is in a class by liimself (writes Stanley Jackson, well-known London criminologist). He has to be a connoisseur, a brilliant organiser, often as daring and plausible as “ Raffles ” himself. He operates for huge profits, but he takes risks that would terrify the ordinary burglar. Art thieves know that they are handling dynamite. You can break up gold and diamonds, but a well-known picture is “ hot ” for years. A valuable picture was stolen from the home of an English peer some years ago. The thief found it hard to “ unload.” He therefore hit upon the idea of selling it as a copy of the masterpiece! Ho made £SO out of the transaction—a poor return for the risks ho had taken. The “ copy ” found its way to a college in the United States, where it hung until an expert spotted it. The authorities had paid 20,000 dollars for it.

PAWNED FOR £5

Another unprofitable raid was made on the Earl of Suffolk’s collection. A dozen piclures were lilted at incredible risk, but the thief found himself up against tho old difficulty of “ unloading ” them. In the eud, with a fortune rotting away in his cupboard, he was driven to pawning two of them for a paltry liver. Ear more successful was Antoine Thomas, a French art dealer, who stole by night and sold by day. But he was smart enough not to lift pictures. He made a fortune by raiding churches, museums, and private collections. Gems and rare tapestries were his speciality. But sometimes lie would oblige a connoisseur by lifting some rare statuette. Ho would ship his booty off to distant parts of the world like South America, and China, knowing that the unscrupulous client, content to gloat over his stolen treasure in secret, would uot exhibit it to the public gaze. Many a stolen masterpiece is still hidden by such art fanatics.

Dozens of priceless treasures have not been recovered. Eight years ago a Rembrandt valued at £300,000 was stolen from the home of a Swedish millionaire. It has never turned up. A fortune in oils was stolen from the home of the Earl of Chichester some years back. In spite of an intensive search tho booty was never traced. Weary of searching for clients, art thieves sometimes decided to call it a day. The daring raider who took some Constable drawings from a Royal Academy Exhibition failed to find a market and finally sent them by post to the offices of a daily newspaper. Apart from the rare chance of finding an unscrupulous collector who will ask no questions, the art thief has to rely upon his salesmanship to dispose of his stuff as copies. It was uot so long since a German gang with international connections was run to earth. Pictures were doctored by hard-up artists and sold as copies to private buyers all over the world.

This system has a grave disadvantage from the crook’s point of view. As he is selling masterpieces as copies ho cannot ask for big prices. Ho prefers to steal an enormously valuable painting, preferably of sentimental or national interest, and blackmail the owners into buying it back. A crook who stole a superb panel from Ghent Cathedral got in touch with the authorities and offered to sell the panel back to them, bit by bit. Tho first part, for which he modestly demanded £IO,OOO, duly arrived in Ghent. It was a very clever fake! The real panel has never come to light.