While the art industry celebrates the return of the stolen Cezanne masterpiece "Boy in a Red Waistcoat," recovered this week in Serbia, thousands of other famous stolen works of art continue to be traded on the black market or collect dust in storage.
According to the Art Loss Register, an international index of stolen works, there are 350,000 stolen works of art in the world. Once thieves realize they can't sell the paintings at auction or get paid a ransom fee without getting caught, many try to obtain cash or collaterall illegally, said Chris Marinello, general counsel for the Register.
"The next thing is the art goes underground to the black market and trades among criminals at about 5 to 10 percent of its true value. We've seen art being traded for drugs, weapons, involved in the international terrorism trade, traded for antiquities,'" Marinello said.
When criminals run out of options for making money off the art, they often put them in storage or hang them in private homes where they can stay for years without anyone realizing, Marinello said.
The world's most wanted stolen paintings are valued at more than $1 billion and can be seen here:
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