Recently, I expanded the study "Art Theft and Recovery Articles Published in Major News Sources, 1985-2006" so that it included the monetary values of thefts and recoveries (as published) for each year. This is another attempt to quantify the media's influence on art crime.
Again, research shows that 1989 stands out in particular as there were over $70 million more reported in thefts than recoveries. Certainly, this new data supports my opinion that the publicity surrounding art thefts during 1989 could have inspired thieves to burglarize the Gardner Museum the following year. Interestingly enough, if one removes the Gardner theft's hefty $500 million dollar estimate from 1990, then it results in data that actually favors recoveries by approximately $24 million. Some of my other observations:
- In 2002 and 2003, there were three major recoveries each over $50 million in value that made headlines
- 2004 and 2006, appear to be inversely related, this is attributed to the theft and recovery of Munch's Scream
- From 1997 to 2006, while there were only 4 more recoveries than thefts reported, the total value of recoveries during that span was twice as much as the total value for thefts
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