The thief was a sports fan, it seems. Ten pieces by pop art king Andy Warhol – showing famous sports figures – were swiped from a home in West Los Angeles, according to local police. The 40 square inch silkscreens were stolen around September 2 and September 3. The owner, businessman Richard Weisman, is offering a $1 million reward for information leading to the recovery of the multimillion dollar collection.

Times may be tough for the art market, but a large collection of Warhols is still definitely worth a $1 million reward.

The paintings were displayed in Weisman's living room, and the doors to the house were locked. Nobody's sure how the thieves got into the house ... well, nobody knows but the thieves (obviously). The family nanny noticed that the paintings were missing and dashed off to a neighbor's house to call the police.

Among the missing are pieces depicting O.J. Simpson, Pele, Chris Evert and Muhammad Ali. The exact value of the collection is unknown, but Weisman had tried to sell it for $3 million in 2002. In 2007, of course, Warhol became the top seller at auction worldwide, so even in the current art slump, it's hard to imagine the collection hasn't appreciated.

Other artwork in the house was untouched, and the home had not been ransacked, leading the police to believe that the thieves were only interested in Warhol.

So, once again, the LAPD is trying to track down O.J.

Art thefts at museums are regrettably fairly common but this may the first I've heard of a bird theft. England's Natural History Museum at Tring says that someone has been walking off with their rare bird specimens. The thieves have stolen around 300 bird skins from an archive of rare tropical birds. The thefts were discovered in June after a break-in but museum officials aren't sure when they were actually stolen. The examples chosen included a number of brightly-colored tropical birds and the thieves could have stolen them for a collector or for other uses. The colorful plumage could end up in fishing lures, dresses or even costume jewelry. Professor Richard Lane, Director of Science at the Museum, said that the "birds that were stolen formed part of the nation's natural history collection, painstakingly assembled over the last 350 years."

[via AP]

Actor Orlando Bloom has become the latest celebrity burglary victim. His Hollywood Hills home was recently broken into and the LA Times is reporting that thieves walked away with around $500,000 in jewelry, cash and artwork. Bloom is out of town but a relative discovered the break-in on Wednesday. Bloom is far from the first star to be the victim of a house robbery. Thieves absconded with around $2 million in jewelry from Paris Hilton's home last year.

Her recent trip to Cannes may have proved costly for beautiful actress Monica Bellucci. While she was away at the film festival, an apartment in Paris belonging to her and her husband Vincent Cassel was broken into and the thieves took off with around $111, 000 in jewelry as well as a couple of laptop computers and Bellucci's Italian passport.

Reuters reported a few days ago that a sophisticated $88 million art investment scam was revealed in New York on March 26. Art dealer Lawrence Salander, 59 (at right), was arrested at his New York home on March 26, when he and his gallery were charged with 100 counts, including grand larceny and securities fraud. Salander pleaded not guilty in New York's Supreme Court and his bail was set at $1 million. He faces up to 25 years in prison on the most serious charge.

Former tennis champion John McEnroe was duped along with Bank of America, investment firms, art owners and collectors. So far, authorities have identified 26 victims of Salander's scheme, including McEnroe, who lost $2 million after investing a half share in two paintings, Arshile Gorky's Pirate I and II. The share in the paintings was sold at the same time to another collector, and McEnroe never recouped the money, authorities said.

Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau said the scheme, which lasted from 1994 - 2007, included luring investors who paid cash in exchange for shares of ownership of works of art. "He sold artwork not owned by him and kept the money and lured investment money in fraudulent investment opportunities," Morgenthau said. Salander used the money to fund "an extravagant lifestyle" of lavish parties and private jets, he said.

The investigation of Salander, the former owner of Salander-O'Reilly Galleries (shuttered in 2007), continues. Other estates he looked after included paintings of the late father of actor Robert De Niro.

Most of the artworks, which are yet to be valued, are being held in the custody of a bankruptcy court in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Many of the investors have filed civil claims against Salander and his gallery, which filed for bankruptcy and closed in 2007.

Queen Latifah is the latest celebrity theft victim. The rapper turned actress is vacationing on the island of Tobago at the Villas at Stonehaven. E Online reports that she is staying with a family member who was actually the victim of the robbery. The theft occurred while they were enjoying a private barbecue brunch thrown by the management. A bracelet, gold rings and some silver jewelry were taken for a total of around $10,000. It is believed that the robbery was an inside job as there was no sign of forced entry.

Boxing champ Floyd Mayweather may be dressing a little plainly lately. Last month burglars broke in to his Las Vegas home, and, according to the pugilist, made off with around $7 million in jewelry. The home was empty when a window between the master bedroom and pool area was smashed and the valuables were stolen. The security camera footage has been little help in ascertaining the identity of the four bandits who broke in.

As David Mayo of the Grand Rapids Press notes, last year on HBO Mayweather demonstrated that he doesn't believe in credit cards and believes in liquidity, shocking the camera crew by showing off $1 million in cash stored in a duffle bag in his bedroom. Mayweather is notoriously spendy, wearing flashy jewelry, giving lavish tips and gambling big on sporting events but after this he will likely be a lot more careful about where he stores his bling.

Earlier this week I mentioned the jewel theft at the Damiani store in Milan. An even bigger theft went down on February 18 in Belgium. A pair of armed robbers broke glass display cabinets containing items from the Cathedral Treasury making off with several prize pieces including eight 17th-century chalices, two episcopal rings, two episcopal crosses and the beautiful Byzantine cross shown here, a 5th Century piece which is gold and set with precious stones, pearls and paste. The robbers disappeared into an Audi driven by an accomplice.


[via Stolen Vermeer]

It's not as impressive as the Harry Winston job last year but the thieves who raided Damiani jewelry's showroom in Milan on Sunday earn points for ingenuity. BBC News reports that the thieves dug an underground tunnel to a Milan showroom and then seven men, dressed as police, came through a cellar wall, tied up the staff and stole several million euros of jewelry in just a few minutes. Many of the showroom's best items weren't there they were in Los Angeles getting their red carpet moment at the Oscars. The men were reportedly unarmed. They tied up the staff up with plastic cable and sticky tape, locked everyone in the bathroom except the manager, who was forced to empty the lockers. The thieves left few traces of their crime behind and it appears to be a very professional job.

New York Mets pitcher Ambiorix Burgos has better luck than some other celebrities who have had their jewels stolen. Burgos, who reported $270,000 worth of jewelry stolen from his St. Lucie West hotel room on Tuesday, got his belongings back. An unidentified man dropped off a jewelry-filled black bag several hours after the bag was reported missing. Burgos told police his bag was missing after he switched rooms. Employees with access to the rooms said they did not take it but a few hours later a man came in to the hotel with the bag, put it on the counter saying he had found it outside, and ran away. The most interesting part of the story to me is that the police called Ambiorix Burgos Tuesday night to let him know but the pitcher was too busy to return to the police station to identify the bag until Wednesday. Perhaps these are just Burgos's traveling jewels.

UPDATE: A housekeeper at the hotel has been charged with grand theft for stealing the bag and Burgos says some items worth between $10,000 to $20,000 are still missing.

Most of us picture art thieves as slinky sleuth types who sneak in under cover of night and quietly disable the alarm system, but apparently that's not what works best in Switzerland. This past Sunday 3 masked men dressed all in black burst into a private museum in Zurich in the middle of the day and took 4 paintings valued at £85 million by simply ripping them off the walls and running. They were in and out of the building and flying down the road in a beater of a white car in less than 3 minutes! Amazing. Sad, and outrageously embarrassing for Switzerland, but amazing.

The truly sad part is that they made off with some major and historic pieces of art: Cézanne's The Boy in a Red Vest, Degas's Viscount Lepic and his Daughters, Monet's Poppies Near Vetheuil, and Van Gogh's Blossoming Chestnut Branches. What a tragedy! I hope they get caught before the art is lost underground forever.

Every time a story of celebrity hotel theft hits the news I wonder why celebrities travel with so many valuables. The latest to lose her bling is singer Dionne Warwick. Thieves stole two rings, a necklace, a pair of earrings and a Rolex watch worth more than $100,000 total from the singer's room at the Hotel De Russie. The rooms at the hotel have safety deposit boxes but Ms. Warwick left her jewelry on a night table. What's really interesting is that the robbery occurred in the same room at the hotel where Cameron Diaz encountered a pair of thieves seven years ago.

It's not always easy to be a high-spending Russian businessman. Vikotor Markov has the dubious distinction of being Russia's first Maybach 57 owner to have his car stolen. Markov, who bought the car for €530,000 but insured only for €300,000, lost his Maybach limo while he was eating dinner in Moscow. He went into the De Marco cate and aa gang of thugs hijacked his driver and knocked him out. He was released later outside the Moscow Ring Road. The theft is suspected to part of a series of ongoing thefts of luxury cars that has included three Bentleys. It is suspected that the car will be driven to another country such as Kazakhstan or Ukraine and resold.

I don't generally write about jewelry theft but when a Harry Winston boutique gets robbed you have to pay attention. Last weekend, thieves took approximately €20 million in jewels from the Harry Winston store. It is one of the largest jewel thefts ever. The masked and armed men entered the store on Saturday morning and got the employees to open the safe. They took off with a bag of gems that included a €3.2 million diamond-studded bracelet and a large diamond worth €2 million. The police believe the robbers are professionals and they hope to try and catch the thieves when they try to resell the merchandise. The thieves will have to move fast, the investigators are distributing information about the specific stolen pieces around the world.

Bad news for the Hogan family. Hulk Hogan and his family are looking to sell their house in Miami and recently the house was burglarized. Thieves ended up walking off with $100,000 of jewelry including diamond-covered dog tags and a platinum and diamond watch belonging to Hogan's young son Nick. The incident occurred while the Hogans were moving out of the home. The home, which we recently profiled as an estate of the day, is listed for sale at $18.9 million.