A Boston Theft Reflects

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The black market is right behind the white. The worldwide volume of art thefts is now epidemic: a business, according to Constance Lowenthal of New York City's International Foundation for Art Research (set up to keep records of reported art thefts), that turns over between $1 billion and $2 billion a year. That was about the global size of the legitimate art business a generation ago. Around 90% of stolen art is never found. If one wanted a perfect example of how the crazed art market has come to work against American museums and their public, what happened in Boston last week would be it.