Stolen Art Watch, Sweden, Royal Family Victim of Chinese Whispers !!!

STOCKHOLM — A gang of thieves on Friday staged a remarkable break-in near the Swedish royal family’s residence in Stockholm, smashing display cases at a historic 18th-century Chinese-style landmark and getting away with artifacts that police called potentially priceless.

The heist at the ornate Chinese Pavilion, a birthday gift from King Adolf Fredrik to Queen Lovisa Ulrika in 1753, took just six minutes, and occurred just after security guards had made their rounds at 2 a.m., police spokeswoman Diana Sundin said.

“The alarm went off just as the guards had passed by,” she said. Guards immediately returned to the scene, but the burglars had already vanished, she said.

The burglars are believed to have entered the building by smashing the glass on the pavilion’s back door. Once inside, they shattered three display cases, she said, and made off with an unknown number of “old, beautiful Chinese objects.”

“It might not even be possible to put a value on these objects. That’s how bad it is,” she said. She could not say specifically what was stolen, but the pavilion is known for its display of Chinese artifacts including porcelain, China and vases.

The original small wooden Chinese pleasure palace was replaced by a more robust structure in the 1760s and has rich, European rococo interiors along with its collection of chinoiserie. It is located near the royal family’s permanent residence in the Drottningholm Palace park in western Stockholm. Both are on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

Sundin said there are currently no suspects in the case, but that there are indications that there were at least three people involved in the burglary.

She also said police are investigating a motor bike found abandoned in the nearby waterfront that borders the majestic park.

“Right now, everything points toward them having left via the water,” Sundin said, adding they may have had a boat waiting for them as they fled the scene.

Art Hostage Comments:

Baha and Dieya Kadhum in the frame, modus vivendi............

Here Come The Girls !!

League of organized burglars are operating in Stockholm.

The extent of their ‘business’ is bigger than previously anticipated.

As it seems; there are two groups which are responsible for a clear majority of the break-ins.

The groups normally work in a very professional way.

They make however mistakes; in the home of one of the victims the police found communication equipment and tools for climbing on the outside wall that were left on the scene of the crime.

One of the groups, with roots in South America, seems to have only females in leading positions which is a bit unusual.

This is just the tip of the iceberg

Update:
Breaking news: Meanwhile, a Degas and two Toulouse-Lautrec paintings were stolen from a home in the upmarket Neuilly area in the suburbs of Paris. Thieves broke in as the 80 year-old resident was away on holiday.

A total of five works of art, which include a picture of two of Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec, were stolen from the home of an elderly woman of 88 years in Neuilly-sur-Seine, outside Paris.

The woman, who at the time of the looting was on vacation, denounced last August 2 theft of five paintings.

The titles of the works or their market value have gone beyond the media.

The robbers entered the building through the roof and pierced a window with an object that could be a diamond, according to the victim, alerted to the incident by the doorman of the building.

The paintings were not insured and the house of the victim did not have an alarm system.

The paintings are the work of French subtracted Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec, Edgar Degas and Marie Laurencin.

Encore:

Edgar Degas “Les Choristes (The Chorus)", missing from the Cantini Museum Marseille since last December, time to put in an appearence me thinks.

Perhaps pressure on the guard bore fruit, or BRB made a raid and recovered it during the operation.

A sting operation, a hand back, secret talks have been going on in Paris, so, let the cards fall where they may !!!

Jacques Dallest is a bit of a maverick, has he made the deal and allowed the Degas “Les Choristes (The Chorus)" to surface ???