Stealing masterpiece is one type of crime that virtualy never pays. Seizing a masterpiece from a gallary is one thing but realising. Its value is a very much more defficult challenge

Stealing masterpiece is one type of crime that virtualy never pays. Seizing a masterpiece from a gallary is one thing but realising. Its value is a very much more defficult challenge. Most criminals understand this so the theft of great works of art is relatively rare, considering the many thousands that are on public view in museums and galleries across the world. Nevertheless, there has been a spate of major losses over recent years. When a masterpiece is stolen, it naturally hits the headlines, although such losses represent only a small fraction of art crime. They cannot be sold anywhere, since no auction house or dealer would touch them, so they have no open-market value. One theory is that iconic works are stolen to order, for a private collector who has a secret hideway hung with his favourite paintings from the world’s galleries.