Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • Contact Us
  • Podcast
  • Newsletter
  • AMMpro

Art Theft Is NOT the 3rd ‘Biggest Criminal Enterprise in the World’

July 22, 2014 by Marion Maneker

Rembrandt Storm on the Lake of Galilee

Newsweek has had a story about art theft out for about a week that was recently updated. The editors didn’t choose to clarify this mis-leading characterization of art theft as the third “highest grossing criminal trade.” That’s just plain nonsense.

Art theft might cause monetary damage or loss at a level that puts it nominally behind selling drugs and weapons but no one who steals art is “grossing” or even netting value anywhere near the $6-8bn a year level. That’s because most art crime is a crime of opportunity where the thieves soon discover it is hard to sell a work of stolen art for anywhere near its value.

Think of it this way, bronze statues have recently been stolen from public spaces and sold for scrap metal. The work of art might have a high nominal value but the thieves are not receiving any money that is commensurate with the damage they’re causing. Nor did whomever stole Rembrandt’s Storm on the Sea of Galilee (above) from the Gardner museum.

With that in mind, read this from Newsweek:

If it seems hard to imagine that art crime is, according to the US Department of Justice and Unesco, the third highest-grossing criminal trade over the past 40 years (just behind drugs and weapons) […] The amount of criminal income generated by art crime each year is thought to be $6-8 billion, according to the FBI. In the UK, the value of art and antiques stolen each year is around £300m, second only to drug dealing and more costly than the theft of stolen vehicles. These figures are woefully inaccurate simply because we can’t possibly know about every single illegal trade that takes place, with some stolen, looted or forged pieces being sold multiple times. Worldwide, some 50,000-100,000 works of art are stolen each year. Not surprisingly only about 10% of stolen art is recovered, and successful prosecution occurs even less frequently.

After Drugs and Guns, Art Theft Is the Biggest Criminal Enterprise in the World  (Newsweek)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Another Way of Romanticizing Art TheftAnother Way of Romanticizing Art Theft
  • Unsolved Art CrimesUnsolved Art Crimes
  • FBI Says The’ve Had Confirmed Sightings of  Stolen Gardner Museum WorksFBI Says The’ve Had Confirmed Sightings of Stolen Gardner Museum Works
  • Gardner Heist Thieves Identified but Paintings Still LostGardner Heist Thieves Identified but Paintings Still Lost
  • Schooled on ScoundrelsSchooled on Scoundrels
  • Bloomberg on Art TheftBloomberg on Art Theft
  • Print
  • Tweet

Filed Under: Fraud, Theft & Restitution

Advertise on Art Market Monitor with Nectar Ads

Top Posts

  • Frieze LA Sales Report
  • Sotheby's to Sell SFMoMA's $35m Rothko for Acquisitions Firepower
  • Early Gauguin Work Emerges at Sotheby's Paris After a Century in Same Family
  • Sotheby's Celebrates Bauhaus's Centenary with 25 Works in Imp-Mod Sales
  • David Hockney's $20m Pacific Coast Highway & Santa Monica
  • Christie's Announces $70m Picasso Self Portrait
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • Sotheby's Brings AI Portraiture Work to Contemporary Day Sale in March
  • Artelligence Podcast: Selling Art in the Digital Age
  • Simon de Pury's Lawsuit Reveals True Price Paid for Gauguin's Nafea faa ipoipo (When will you marry?)


  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • Art Loans
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Advertise on Art Market Monitor