TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, IN BOSTON, THE LARGEST ART HEIST IN HISTORY TOOK PLACE. AS FOR THE INSURANCE ON THAT ART? WELL ….

The Storm on the Sea of Galilee (1633), by Rembrandt; this painting is among the 13 pieces of art stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum on March 18, 1990 (image credit: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum)

March 18, 2015

Habig Magoon Insurance Agency, in this space, today, shares information on … and points to .. an epic art heist that took place 25 years ago.

And, yes, there is an insurance angle.

In the early morning hours of Sunday, March 18 – which, of course, followed a full Saturday of St. Patrick’s Day in Boston – thieves, dressed as police officers, entered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

The museum, a bequest of Boston arts patron, philanthropist, and grand society dame, Isabella Stewart Gardner, was opened in 1903. Styled and designed to emulate a 15^th century Venetian palace, it housed an extraordinary collection of art – among the world’s finest small museum troves.

The thieves gained easy access to the poorly secured building, and quickly tied up the two security guards on duty (whom the robbers did not hurt).

Within 81 minutes after entering the museum, the robbers made off with 13 pieces of art, valued at approximately $300 million.  Included among the stolen artwork were two Rembrandt paintings, a painting by Vermeer, five drawings by Degas, and a vase from the Shang Dynasty.

In terms of art dollar value, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum robbery remains the largest theft in U.S. – and maybe even world – history.

To this day, the art has not been recovered – although there have been many strong leads.

As terrible as was the loss – at least the art was insured, right?

Well, actually not.

A primary reason that the art was not insured is explained in the following excerpt from a 2010 Boston Magazine story on the theft, written by Paige Williams:

The 1980s and early ’90s were good years for art crooks. Between 1985 and 1988 alone, the number of thefts reported to Interpol doubled. The illicit international art trade had become a $1 billion-a-year business. Thefts drove up prices, which drove up the cost of insurance. Like a lot of smaller, private museums, the Gardner wasn’t covered for theft. Nor did it have a particularly sophisticated approach to hiring and training its guards or fortifying its valuables.

Please click here here to be taken to the full story.

There is a $5 million reward offered for information leading to recovery of the art.

Today the collection of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is insured.

If you click here you will be taken to a story, in today’s Boston Globe, on the crime.