On this week’s art crime blotter: a trove of taxidermy animals went missing, five Francis Bacons were stolen, and a gang of crooked auction house porters went on trial.
Art Theft
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: two tourists were arrested for taking naked pictures at Machu Picchu, a Snapchat post led police to a stolen sculpture, and ancient Mesopotamian artifacts were found at a refugee camp in Slovenia.
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: 14 members of a British museum-robbing ring were convicted, Christie’s sued collector Jose Mugrabi for failing to pay for a $37 million Basquiat he won at auction, and the NYPD seized a crate labeled “art” only to find it full of weed.
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: people pillaged stones from the quarry where Stonehenge’s giant rocks were sourced, the certificate of authenticity of a Lee Ufan painting recently sold at auction was found to be fake, and a curator bit a fellow passenger on an airplane.
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: a dog sculpture goes missing in Albuquerque, meth smugglers hide drugs in art supplies, and an artist sues Wu-Tang Clan and Martin Shkreli.
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: an art dealer was accused of flogging forgeries, Airbnb renters stole their hosts’ Banksy print, and Egyptian authorities arrested three men for selling chunks of the Giza pyramids to tourists.
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: a disgraced antiquities dealer’s stash of loot was discovered, a fake Picasso was seized by Turkish police, and a stolen portrait of R2-D2 was returned.
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: eight museum workers charged over King Tut’s botched beard, thieves drive off with a trailer full of blue-chip art, and sculptures of a heart, a cheetah, and a hockey-playing beaver go missing.
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: a performance artist faces charges for pooping on the Israeli flag, Le Corbusier chairs are stolen in India, and a graffiti artist sues singer Kiesza for featuring his murals in a music video.
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: an art analysis assignment gets a teacher suspended, new reality TV show allegedly glorifies ‘grave-robbing,’ and Justin Bieber climbs a Mayan ruin and pulls his pants down.
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: vandals attack Jackie Chan’s sculptures in Taiwan, Abe Lincoln’s hand goes missing from Illinois museum, and an advertising student claims an agency ripped off his poster design.
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: photos of same-sex couples are vandalized, Justin Bieber’s street stencil campaign irks San Francisco, and a man wearing a panda hat steals art from a King Kong fast food restaurant.