I'm totally fascinated by stolen priceless works. What is the market for this? I get that there's places in the world where anything goes for the insanely wealthy, but the world is a smaller and smaller place these days. It's not like you can brag to your dinner party guests about that Rembrandt.

I can't help but think the primary motivation for these thefts is nothing more but the thrill of the heist, and if these are recovered it will be from the home of a deceased man's basement in Pittsburgh or Toledo or Fresno, rolled up in the corner .

Jen,
I just read that in the NYT. I very much recall the theft. It was huge. Those works were priceless. I especially like the Jan Vermeer one, "The Concert". I find art thievery most unfortunate. Still, as @1 believes I, too think the thieves are in it for the sheer audacity. Nice to know they, the FBI have the names of the perps. I do hope the works are recovered. I also agree that the current possessors of these pieces probably don't know the provenance.

What's most amazing is that if you go to the Gardner today, they just have blank spots on the walls where the stolen works used to be, and a tiny placard noting that the previous occupant of the space was stolen.

I know I could just google this, but I must comment that it's annoying that the website has no links (that I could find) to larger photos of the paintings. ???