Priceless : how I went undercover to rescue the world's stolen treasures Robert K. Wittman with John Shiffman

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wittman, Robert K.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Wittman, Robert K.

Art thefts--Investigation.

Art thefts.

Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaelogy and Anthropology.

Musée Rodin.

Physical Description:

viii, 324 p., [8] p. of plates : ill. (chiefly col.) ; 25 cm.

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

How I went undercover to rescue the world's stolen treasures

Place of Publication:

New York : Crown Publishers, c2010.

Summary:

Robert K. Wittman, the founder of the FBI's Art Crime Team, pulls back the curtain on his remarkable career, offering a real-life international thriller. The son of an antique dealer, Wittman built a twenty-year career going undercover, usually unarmed, to catch art thieves, scammers, and black market traders in Paris and Philadelphia, Rio and Santa Fe, Miami and Madrid. Wittman tells the stories behind his recoveries of priceless art and antiquities: the golden armor of an ancient Peruvian warrior king; the Rodin sculpture that inspired the Impressionist movement; the rare Civil War battle flag carried into battle by one of the nation's first African-American regiments. The art thieves and scammers he caught run the gamut from rich to poor, smart to foolish, organized criminals to desperate loners. Wittman has saved hundreds of millions of dollars worth of art and antiquities, but he considers them all equally priceless.--From publisher description.

Contents:

Alla prima. Stagehand

Crimes against history

Provenance. Making of an agent

Mask of the man with the broken nose

The accident

Inspiration

A new life

Body of work. The gold man

History out the back door

A blood cloth

Befriend & betray

The con artist

A hot hand

The property of a lady

National treasure

Art crime team

The old master

Operation masterpiece. Mrs. Gardner

Cold case

A French connection

Laurenz & Sunny

Allies & enemies

- A coward has no scar

Suspicious minds

End game.

Local Notes:

Text includes thefts at three Philadelphia institutions: The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Rodin Museum, and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaelogy and Anthropology.

HSP copy signed by author.

The Landau-Savedoff Memorial Reference Collection of Cultural and Heritage Purloinment.

ISBN:

9780307461476

0307461475

OCLC:

437298775