$200,000 Offered For Stolen Artwork

If you've seen any of the nine missing paintings shown above you could earn yourself a $200,000 reward. These paintings were stolen during a home robbery in Encino, California at the end of August while the elderly owners were in a back room. The thief stole paintings including Marc Chagall's "Les Paysans," Diego Rivera's "Mexican Peasant," and Arshile Gorky's "Cubist Still Life," a total of at least a dozen artworks in less than one hour. The Los Angeles police have announced a $200,000 reward for information leading to the paintings' return. But, as the L.A. Times reports, it is unknown where the money came from, only that it was not a government source.

Each painting is worth at least six figures with some worth over $1 million. If the thief doesn't know exactly what they have it may show up on the market soon at a pawn shop or other places but a more savvy thief might be willing to wait a while and then quietly slip it onto the market in another part of the country or overseas. The pieces have been registered in the Art Loss Register and in the FBI and Interpol stolen art files so anyone who does their homework should be able to know what they are getting. However, the networks to sell stolen art are elaborate and secretive and many pieces are not recovered. Often if a piece is not recovered quickly it can disappear for many years or even permanently.