THE ARCHIVE BY COUNTRY
Published reports from our archive, newest first.
A country may refer to the theft, recovery, return or legal proceedings. A case can be linked to more than one country.
189 reports · Page 2 / 9
The Washington Post documented the search for three Pollock works stolen from the Isaacs family in 1973. Two had previously been recovered. A federal lead concerning the third work, Painting 1028 (1948), did not lead to its recovery, and it was still missing when the investigation was reported. Image: the recovered Number 7, 1951, National Gallery of Art.
Collector Charles Cahn sued Sotheby’s over Portrait de Léopold Zborowski, which he bought in 2003 as a Modigliani. Cahn alleged that Sotheby’s failed to honour a separate buyback arrangement. Questions about the painting’s attribution also feature in the dispute.
Sotheby’s notified Maine’s attorney general of a data breach in 2025. The filing records an incident in July and notices to affected Maine residents in October. Sotheby’s did not publicly identify the party responsible. File photograph: Sotheby’s New York, courtesy of the auction house.
Old Kingdom limestone funerary statue. Image: U.S. Department of Justice. Image source ↗
A default judgment in Maryland completed the forfeiture of 14 illegally imported Egyptian artifacts. They included an Old Kingdom limestone funerary statue and smaller objects intercepted in shipments.
Christine Oaklander with a counterfeit purchased from Reese; The Philadelphia Inquirer Image source ↗
Reese received imprisonment, supervision and restitution after admitting sales of works he knew were falsely attributed to artists including Bacon, Basquiat, Picasso and Warhol.
The Monuments Men and Women Foundation identified two floral still lifes attributed to Ambrosius Bosschaert at Apple Tree Auction Center in Newark, Ohio. It traced them to the Schloss collection, looted during the Second World War. The auction house pulled the works after the foundation contacted it.
Documentary image: FBI. Image source ↗
The FBI handed over a terracotta quadriga model and a bichrome flask at the Cypriot embassy on 4 August 2025. Both objects are estimated to be more than 2,600 years old.
Documentary image: FBI. Image source ↗
The FBI returned a page signed by Cortés in 1527 to Mexico on 13 August 2025. The page had been missing from the Mexican national archives, which requested the FBI’s help in 2024.
An appellate court upheld a $2.5 million sanctions award in litigation over a landscape signed Pete Doige that a court had found was not painted by Peter Doig. Image of the disputed painting from court documents, via The Art Newspaper.
Phillips brought a New York lawsuit over David Mimran’s agreement to guarantee a Jackson Pollock painting at auction. The house sought to enforce the obligation after no other bidder met the threshold. Mimran said he wanted the work and needed more time to pay. Image: Untitled, circa 1948, from the Phillips catalogue.
Romania secured a hold on Saint Sebastian after it was withdrawn from a New York sale. The state alleges it was removed from the national collection in 1947 by King Michael I. The consignment was traced to Accent Delight in court documents. Image shows the contested El Greco painting, via court filings.
Police recovered Icarus Within and Quantum Mechanics: Ascension in a trailer after receiving tips from the public. Both sculptures had disappeared from an Anaheim Hills warehouse the previous weekend. The photograph published by the Los Angeles Times shows Icarus Within.
Victor Higgins, Aspens, c.1932. UNM Harwood Museum of Art / FBI. Image source ↗
The FBI announced that Victor Higgins’s Aspens and Joseph Henry Sharp’s Oklahoma Cheyenne were returned to Harwood Museum on 12 May 2025. Stolen in 1985, the works were publicly unveiled in June. The announcement did not report a conviction for the theft.
A New York court ruled that the Art Institute of Chicago must turn over Russian War Prisoner, a work claimed by Fritz Grünbaum’s heirs. The record concerns that court’s ruling.
Related artwork: Warhol Lenin on museum display; not the stolen trial proof Image source ↗
The US Justice Department announced charges alleging that a pawn shop owner conspired to sell a stolen trial proof and lied to the FBI. The report describes allegations in the indictment.
The recovered George Washington portrait. Englewood Police Department / KRDO. Image source ↗
Englewood police announced recovery of the portrait stolen from storage in January 2024. Its possessor surrendered it on 28 March 2025 after negotiations. Police reported little damage to the artwork and said it would be transferred to the insurer.
The Manhattan District Attorney announced the return following investigations into trafficking networks targeting Cambodian antiquities.
Lisa Schiff. Photograph: Udo Salters / Patrick McMullan via Getty Images, reproduced by The Art Newspaper. Image source ↗
Lisa Schiff was sentenced to 30 months in prison for a roughly $6.5 million fraud connected to purchases and sales of about 55 artworks. Prosecutors described diversion of client money to personal and business expenses. The sentence followed her guilty plea.
The US Supreme Court vacated the previous judgment and remanded the case for further consideration in light of California legislation.
Art Institute of Chicago announces return of Muchalinda Buddha to Nepal — artwork or case documentation from the linked image source. Image source ↗
The museum agreed to return Buddha Sheltered by the Serpent King Muchalinda after identifying its theft from Guita Bahi. The announcement concerns the restitution decision, not confirmation of physical arrival.
Manhattan prosecutors returned 11 antiquities to Greece, including the pictured grave relief. The objects were recovered in several investigations, including one involving London-based antiquities dealer Robin Symes. Image: Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
