7 most audacious theft of valuables in history

1. «Mona Lisa».
One of the most audacious thefts in history was the kidnapping of the Louvre's famous paintings by the great master Leonardo da Vinci - Mona Lisa. This happened in 1911. Vincenzo Peruggia worked as a glazier at the Louvre. One day he noticed that no one guarding the painting and could not resist the temptation to steal. Vincenzo went straight to the painting, removed it from the wall on the stairs got rid of the frame, and then hid the Mona Lisa under his coat, and, as if nothing had happened, left the museum. For two years he kept it in his Paris apartment in a suitcase with a double bottom. The robber was caught while trying to sell a stolen painting in Italy.



2. "The Scream».
"The Scream" by Edvard Munch - is one of the most recognizable paintings in the world. It hangs next to the famous Mona Lisa painting and also became a victim of daring robbers. Munch lived in the years 1863-1944 and for his life wrote several versions of this famous portrait. In 2004, two armed men in masks broke into the Munch Museum in Oslo and threatened the guards with violence, seized the painting "The Scream" and ran out of the museum. Two years about the fate of stolen works of art were not known. Suddenly, unexpectedly stolen paintings found, but under what circumstances - is silent.



3. Dorothy's shoes from the movie "The Wizard of Oz».
Studded with sparkles of red satin shoes, which Dorothy (Judy Garland) sported in the famous film in 1939 - "The Wizard of Oz" is estimated at 1-2 million dollars. At the time, the pair - one of the four famous "witch shoes" - can be seen at the Museum of Judy Garland in the Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 2005, shoes simply vanished. Nobody saw nothing and no one could say how they disappeared. Although the investigators were two suspects, the case had remained unsolved.



4. The works of art from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.
It was theft, which the world had never seen. Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas, Manet ... priceless pictures disappeared like a stone into the water. In the photo: the famous painting "The Concert" by Vermeer.
March 18, 1990. Early morning. Two men dressed as police officers are included in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. They should have known that the museum is not well guarded. Robbers can easily link two inexperienced guards and gagged their mouths. And then an hour (or more precisely 81 minutes) chose pictures that carry with them. The most valuable of the stolen paintings is "The Concert" by Vermeer - is just one of the 36 known works by the Dutch master, valued at $ 250 million. A total of daring robbers stole 13 paintings worth at least five hundred million US dollars. What happened next with pictures and where they are still not known.



5. Bell monks from Tacoma.
Steal a 1360-pound bell of a Buddhist monastery - this is the real audacity. The theft occurred in the city of Tacoma, in Washington State. The local police came to the conclusion that if the thieves were not superheroes possess supernatural force, while the theft must have used at least a forklift and a truck, and at least someone had something to hear. However, thieves have stolen so softly huge bell that none of the monks did not hear anything suspicious. The inhabitants of the monastery could not estimate the value of the stolen property, but for them, the bell made in Vietnam, has been invaluable. He found he was only three years later, when someone tried to sell it for scrap. Prospective buyers went straight to the police and thus caught the thieves.



6. The bones of dinosaurs.
Four years ago in the news around the world reported that a man named Eric Prokopi (Eric Prokopi) - a native of Florida - stole the bones of dinosaur skeletons from Mongolia, the cost of which was estimated at $ 1 million. He even managed to smuggle the bones in the United States, but was caught when he tried to sell them at auction. Surprisingly, the offender received a very light sentence - just one month in prison. Dinosaur bones were returned to Mongolia.



7. Davidoff-Morini Violin Stradivarius.
This case was in the top 10 thefts of works of art, which is the FBI. In October 1995, in the apartment of the famous violinist Erica Morini Stradivarius violin was stolen from 1727, which is estimated at 3, 5 million dollars. I still do not understand why someone stole it, because it can not sell because the black market for antiquities such does not exist. What makes theft more daring and tragic is the fact that Erica Morini was then home. She died in the attack, she was 91. The case of the missing violin Davidoff-Morini Stradivarius still not disclosed.