Making A Knife Case

Keeping chef's knives together and organized can be challenging and even dangerous if they are scattered in a drawer. Here is a simple way to keep your knives safely portable, protected and organized.

What You'll Need
1 to 2 yards sturdy cloth (100 percent cotton)
Thread
Ruler or tape measure
Sewing chalk or pen
Sewing machine (with strong needle)
Embroidered initials or decal (optional)

Choose a sturdy cotton fabric for your knife set. Pick out something that will not be too quickly worn out by the blades of the knives, yet thin enough to run through the sewing machine. White and off white are the most common colors; however, any color will work.

Keep the size of your knife collection in mind when choosing the amount of material you will need. Generally, you will need fabric two and a half times the length of your longest knife, plus 4 extra inches for the seam allowance and for cutting out the tie strap. If you are unable to find a sturdy-enough fabric, you can double over the cloth when sewing, and that will require double the fabric. However, keep in mind the thickness of the fabric and the capacity of your sewing machine. If you are unable to sew the thicker folded areas of the case with the machine, you can sew them by hand (though it will take some extra time). Also, keep the width of the fabric in mind. Try to choose a fabric that has a width that will be compatible with the amount of knives in your set and not too wide.

Pick up a strong thread for sewing and check out your sewing machine needles. You may need to purchase a stronger needle than the standard needle on your machine.

Purchase an embroidered initial, decal or logo if desired. It can be a nice added touch for a gift or a good way to keep track of your knife set if you are around other chefs.

Marking Out Your Case
Cut out a strap for your case. Make it about an inch or two wide, depending on how thick you would like the strap. The strap must be long enough to wrap around the roll of knives at least two or three times and be knotted onto itself.

Take your prepared fabric and fold over one side of the narrower length of the fabric over until it has about a 6- to 8-inch fold (the fold for the pouch can be whatever length is suitable for your purposes). Make sure you add an extra 1 inch to fold over at the top of the pocket for a nice finished seam.

Set each of your knives in their desired potential spot along the fold. Consider how the case will roll, and generally keep the larger knives in the middle of the roll for safety and balance. (If necessary, you can lengthen or shorten the fold by looking at your knife set and making adjustments.)

Mark out where you will sew a line for each knife pocket, making sure there is enough room for the associated knife. You will need to leave enough on the side for a seam allowance as well (usually about an extra inch).

Iron the fold and make sure the remaining fabric is the right amount to fold over the knives as a covering flap. Iron the seams around the sides of the fabric as well at the top, remembering to fold the fabric over twice around the sides with the flap so the cloth does not come undone.

Iron the strap by folding it in half first and then pressing it. Then, fold the side edges towards the ironed center and press them, making sure to not iron along the ironed middle (otherwise you will lose that ironed crease). Make sure to tuck in one side of the end of the strap so that you do not have a loose fringe. The other end does not need to be tucked and sewn since it will be sewn into the case.

Sewing and Assembling Your Case
Sew on any decal to the fabric before sewing the case together. Be sure to fold and roll the fabric up as it will be once sewn to determine what areas of the fabric will be visible once rolled. Once you secure an exterior area for the decal to be placed, make sure that it is not a spot where there will be any further stitching. If you would like, you can skip this step and hand-stitch the decal on at the end. However, it can be a little more difficult once the case is assembled.

Topstitch the strap, making sure that the folded edge is also sewn and backstitched. Tack the rough edge of the strap to the upper side seam of one of the pocket sides. Whichever side you choose will be the outer portion of the rolled case.

Sew together the outer seams of the pocket of the case inside out. The strap, if properly tacked, should be actually inside out as well. Make sure that the seams of the pocket are properly lined up before sewing.

Fold the large pocket back right-side out and topstitch around the entire side seams of the case. Be sure to backstitch at the end.

Topstitch the previously marked pockets next. Be sure to backstitch at the beginning and end of the stitching.

Iron the finished case. Then place in your knives, fold the flap and wrap the strap around the case, making sure to tie the strap to itself.

My Outcome
It seemed to come out in the shape and size I intended it to. But, I still found the material I used to be lacking in "strength". Considering, that portability was the main issue, I'd need to try again with much thicker fabric.

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Make Me A Paper Bag

Things You'll Need
Rubber Stamps
Acrylic Paints, Crayons
Glues
Paperweights
Wrapping Paper
Acrylic Paints, Acrylic Brushes
Scissors
Pencils, Ink Pads, Markers, Crayons
Scrap Papers, White Or Brown Kraft Paper
Rulers

What You'll Need To Do
1 - Cut a piece of heavy brown or white paper (craft paper or butcher paper) to 9 1/2 inches by 15 inches.

2 - Position the paper on a flat work surface (any patterned or decorated side should be facing down) so that the short edges are to your left and right. Fold the bottom edge up 2 inches and sharply crease the fold. Unfold.

3 - Use a ruler to find the center points of the top and bottom edges. Make two small pencil marks at the top edge of the paper, 1/2 inch to the left and 1/2 inch to the right of the center point. Repeat on the bottom edge. Turn the paper over and make the same marks on this side as well.

4 - Bring the right edge toward the center of the paper so that it lines up with the marks made to the left of the center point. Sharply crease the resulting right fold. Unfold the flap.

5 - Repeat step 4 for the left edge. Make sure that the left edge lines up with the marks made to the right of the center point. Turn the paper over.

6 - Bring the left and right edges to the same points as you did in steps 4 and 5. This time, however, glue the entire left edge to the right edge at the point where the edges overlap by an inch. Do not crease the edges. Allow the glue to dry thoroughly.

7 - Place the seamed side of the bag down. Push the left and right creases in about 1 1/2 inches so that they fold in toward the center. Lay the bag flat and crease the sides of the bag so that the folds are each sandwiched between the front and back of the bag.

8 - Locate the line of the crease made in step 2. This is the bottom of the bag. Fold the bottom edge of the bag up 4 inches and sharply crease. When you release the paper, the bottom edge of the bag should be slightly erect.

9 - Open up the bottom edges of the bag so that an upright, open-ended box is formed. The box should open up along the fold lines made in step 2 and this fold line should be touching the bag's surface. If you look down into the box, you should see two paper triangles facing each other.

10 - Push the side creases of the box inward and bring either free edge of the box down to lie flat. Bring the remaining free edge down on top of the other and glue it into place. Allow the glue to dry thoroughly and open the bag.

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Make Me A Butterfly

By Meb

Follow these directions to construct colorful cloth butterflies. Add a magnet to use on the refrigerator, or put on a wire stem to add to flower arrangements. Also make great gift wrap decorations and can be used in place of a bow. There's no limit except your imagination. A great way to use up scraps of fabric or to create matching decorations to go with curtains, slip covers, etc.

Start with a small piece of colorful fabric. You will need about 10 inches by 10 inches. Make sure it is smooth and wrinkle free.

Cut two lengths of cloth covered wire 10 inches long.

Cut two lengths of cloth covered wire 7 inches long.

Pull each wire through your fingers to remove wrinkles and straighten. Then loop into an oval shape and twist the ends securely leaving about ¾ inch at the end.

Shape your wings
Place the two large wires together and use your finger to form an indentation to make the large butterfly wing. Leave the small loop as an oval shape.

Glue to fabric
Glue the wire to your fabric and let it completely dry.

Centre and magnet
Make your center by cutting a piece of felt ¾ inch by ¼ inch and glue two stamens to form antennae. If you don't have stamens, you can make them by gluing small beads to the end of a piece of cloth covered wire. You may also use wire pipe cleaners or other material for the center.

Cut out wings
Cut the butterfly wings out of the fabric. Be very careful not to cut the wire because your wings won't hold their shape if you do.

Form sides
Place a large wing and small wing together and twist to form one side. Repeat with the other side.

Basic butterfly
Put the two sides together and twist tightly to form your butterfly.

Unfold and shape your butterfly.

Final butterfly
Glue the center to your butterfly. When completely dry, glue a magnet to the back. Or you may attach your butterfly to a wire stem to add to a flower arrangement. Works great with dried flowers or a rustic wreath.

My Outcome
The fabric I chose was a mixture of white and baby blue smudges. I also decorate the wings with little round blue beads and used a bit more wire to tie the butterflies to a basket. All in, it looked pretty!

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Bali - Sukawati & Surprises

By Rough Guy’d

So the Malaysian girl and I went to Sukawati to buy some arts and crafts. For her, it was a business transaction but for me it was a chance to experience something that I wouldn’t normally be able to. Other than having a rental car, Angie was also able to speak the native language to the locals (Malay) and seeing the bustling sprawling market was an experience in itself. Angie even convinced me that it would be a good idea to buy some scarves to use as presents for either family or people that I met along the way and at $3USD each, it was a great way to thank someone with something better than money.

Unfortunately it was during this time that I experienced my first (but not last) bit of bad news. This one didn’t happen to me directly and at the time, I wasn’t too sure if I was being played or not. What ended up happening was that the girl ended up being pick pocketed and ended up losing quite a substantial sum of money. We tried to report it to the police and everything but in the end, nothing much was achieved and we left empty-handed. Now, I was unmolested as I was extremely careful with my money and feeling sorry for her, I offered to lend her some money.

Now, looking back, I was very trusting of her but I don’t think I’d have done things any differently. She could have been using this to try to fleece me but I didn’t even look at it as that. I gave her enough money for her to finish up her time in Bali and go home, hoping to be able to bump into her when I made my way into Malaysia eventually and get the money back. I figured at the time that if I was played, it wasn’t for much and if I wasn’t, then I’ve done a very good thing and while I don’t really believe in karma, I do believe in making the world a better place however you can.

As it turned out, I needn’t have worried as she was quite willing and happy to give me details of her passport and address in Malaysia and after going our separate ways during the afternoon (she was meeting some local business contacts and I wanted to walk around Ubud some more), we met back up. In a stroke of sheer good fortune, she ended up bumping into her cousin from Malaysia here. Neither knew the other was here and her cousin ended up giving her far more money than I did, letting her continue trying to buy more art and repaying me instantly.

Now, while I didn’t believe in karma, karma sure believed me me, or at least my Malaysian friend and her local friend did. As a way of saying thanks to me, they offered to take me to Mt Badur and then on to Lobina for free. Neither the mountain nor the town were on my original plan but who was I to say no to an offer like that. However the night was not yet done as I was to find out...

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Baked Christmas Ornaments

Being a freelance writer, Mondays are usually crazy deadline days when last week's assignments will usually be due 'first thing Monday morning'. When I first heard this, I used to find it very amusing, with various time zones, whose 'first thing' was it going to be?

These days, to keep it simple, I've made it mine. With all assignments out of my way before 1000 hours, the rest of the day is all mine to behold and to try something new, well, every Monday at least.

Today, it was 'Baked Christmas Ornaments' which I got from Complete Idiot's Guide to Making Great Gifts.

Things I used included
- 2 cups of flour
- 1 cup salt
- Mixing bowl
- Newspapers
- Paper clips
- Rolling pin
- Cookie cutters
- Cookie sheets
- Paintbrush
- Arcylic paint
- Arcylic finish spray

Method
- Mix flour, salt and water
*If mixture is too dry, add water. If mixture is too wet, add flour.
- Roll out dough to about 1/4 inch and make ornaments with cookie cutters.
- Place ornaments on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray.
- Place hole in ornament (with paper clip).
- Bake the ornaments in oven, 8 to 15 minutes.
- Paint with acrylic paints. Spray clear spray.

My outcome
- The cutters I used were approximately 5cm (height) x 2cm (width).
- I had a little teddy bear cookie cutter which turned out to be a real cutie!
- I used silver and tied them with a gold string. (I am camera-less at the moment, so I have only my words)
- On a down side, some of the ornaments had little bumps in them, maybe from the baking or the flour mixture, not too sure but it would be worth to try again and find out!

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The Baggy Yellow T-Shirt

By Patricia Lorenz

The baggy yellow shirt had long sleeves, four extra-large pockets trimmed with black thread, and snaps up the front.

Not terribly attractive, but utilitarian without a doubt.

I found it in December 1963 during my freshman year in college when I was back home in Illinois on Christmas break.

Part of the fun of every vacation at home was the chance to go through Mom's hoard of rummage, destined for the less fortunate. She regularly scoured the house for clothes, bedding and house-wares to give away, and the items were always stored in brown paper bags on the floor of the front hall closet.

Looking through Mom's collection one day, I came across an oversized yellow shirt, slightly faded from years of wear but still in decent shape. "Just the thing to wear over my clothes during art class," I said to myself. "You're not taking that old thing, are you?" Mom asked when she saw me packing it. "I wore that when I was pregnant with your brother in 1954!"

"It's perfect for art class, Mom. Thanks." I slipped it into my suitcase before she could object. The baggy yellow shirt became a part of my college wardrobe. I loved it. All during college, it stayed with me, always comfortable to throw on over my clothes during messy projects. The underarm seams had to be reinforced before I graduated, but there was plenty of wear left in that old shirt.

After graduation I moved to Denver and wore the shirt the day I moved into my new apartment. Then I wore it on Saturday mornings when I cleaned. Those four large pockets on the front; two breast pockets and two at hip-level, made a super place to carry dust cloths, wax and spray cleaner.

The next year, I married. When I became pregnant, I found the yellow shirt tucked in a drawer and wore it during those big-belly days. Though I missed sharing my first pregnancy with Mom and Dad and the rest of my family, since we were in Colorado and they were in Illinois, that shirt helped remind me of their warmth and protection. I smiled and hugged the shirt when I remembered that Mother had worn it when she was pregnant.

By 1969 when my daughter was born, the baggy yellow shirt was at least fifteen years old. That Christmas, I patched one elbow, washed and pressed the shirt, wrapped it in holiday paper and set it to Mom. Smiling, I tucked a note in one of the pockets saying: "I hope this fits. I'm sure it will look great on you!" When Mom wrote to thank me for her "real" gifts, she said the yellow shirt was lovely. Neither Mother nor I ever mentioned it again.

The next year, my husband, daughter and I moved from Denver to St. Louis. We stopped at Mom and Dad's house in Rock Falls, Illinois, to pick up some furniture they were giving us. Days later, when we uncrated the old kitchen table that had belonged to my grandmother, I noticed something yellow taped to its bottom. The baggy yellow shirt! And so the pattern was set.

On our next visit home, I secretly placed the shirt between the mattress and box spring of Mom and Dad's bed. I don't know how long it took her to find it, but almost two years passed before I got it back. By then our family had grown ~ another daughter, then a year later a son.

This time Mom got even with me. She put the yellow shirt under the base of our living-room lamp, knowing that as a mother of three little ones, housecleaning and moving floor lamps would not be everyday events for me. When I finally found the shirt, I wore it often while refinishing "early marriage" furniture that I found at rummage sales. The walnut stains on the shirt simply added more character to its history.

Unfortunately, our lives were full of stains, too. My marriage had been failing almost from the beginning. After a number of attempts at marriage counseling, my husband and I divorced in 1975. The three children and I prepared to move back to Illinois to be closer to the emotional support of family and friends.

As I packed, a deep depression overtook me. I wondered if I could make it on my own with three small children to raise. I wondered if I would find a job. One night I paged through my Bible looking for comfort. In Ephesians, I read, "So use every piece of God's armor to resist the enemy whenever he attacks, and when it is all over, you will be standing up." I tried to picture myself wearing God's armor, but all I saw was me wearing the stained yellow shirt. Of course! Wasn't my mother's love a piece of God's armor? I smiled and remembered the fun and warm feeling the yellow shirt had brought into my life over the years. My courage was renewed and somehow the future didn't seem so alarming.

Unpacking in our new home and feeling much better, I knew I had to get the shirt back to Mother. The next time I visited her, I carefully tucked it in her bottom dresser drawer where she kept her winter sweaters, knowing that sweater weather was months away. Meanwhile my life moved splendidly. I found a good job at a radio station and the children thrived in their new environment.

A year later during a window-washing spurt, I found the crumpled yellow shirt hidden in a rag bag in my cleaning closet. Something new had been added. Emblazoned across the top of the breast pocket were the bright green newly-embroidered words, "I BELONG TO PAT." Not to be outdone, I got out my own embroidery materials and added an apostrophe and seven more letters. Now the shirt proudly proclaimed, "I BELONG TO PAT'S MOTHER."

Once again, I zigzagged all the frayed seams. Then I enlisted the aid of a dear friend, Harold, to help me get it back to Mom. He arranged to have a friend mail the shirt to Mom from Arlington, Virginia. We enclosed a letter announcing that she was the recipient of an award for her good deeds. The award letter, on official-looking stationery printed at the high school where Harold was assistant principal, came from "The Institute for the Destitute." This was my finest hour. I would have given anything to see Mom's face when she opened the "award" box and saw the shirt inside. But, of course, she never mentioned it.

On Easter Sunday the following year, Mother managed the Coup de Gras. She walked into our home with regal poise, wearing that old shirt over her Easter outfit, as if it were an integral part of her wardrobe. I'm sure my mouth hung open, but I said nothing. During the Easter meal, a giant laugh choked my throat. But I was determined not to break the unbroken spell the shirt had woven into our lives. I was sure that Mom would take off the shirt and try to hide in it in my home, but when she and Dad left, she walked out the door wearing, "I BELONG TO PAT'S MOTHER" like a coat of arms.

A year later, in June 1978, Harold and I were married. The day of our wedding, we hid our car in a friend's garage to avoid the usual practical jokers. After the wedding, late that night while my husband drove us to our honeymoon suite in Wisconsin, I reached for a pillow in the backseat so I could rest my head. The pillow felt lumpy. I unzipped the case and discovered a gift, wrapped in wedding paper. I thought it might be a surprise gift from Harold. But he looked as stunned as I. Inside the box was the freshly pressed baggy yellow shirt. Mother knew I'd need the shirt as a reminder that a sense of humor, spiced with love, is one of the most important ingredients in a happy marriage. In a pocket was a note: "Read John 14:27-29. I love you both, Mother."

That night I paged through a Bible I found in the hotel room and found the verses: "I am leaving you with a gift: peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give isn't fragile like the peace the world gives. So don't be troubled or afraid. Remember what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to you again. If you really love me, you will be very happy for me, for now I can go to the Father, who is greater than I am. I have told you these things before they happen so that when they do, you will believe in me."

The yellow shirt was Mother's final gift. She had known for three months before my wedding that she had a terminal disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease). Mother died 13 months later, at age 57. I must admit that I was tempted to send the yellow shirt with her to her grave. But I'm glad I didn't, because it is a vivid reminder of the love-filled game she and I played for over 16 years. Besides, my oldest daughter is in college now, majoring in art. And every student needs a baggy yellow shirt with big pockets to wear to art class!

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Most Notorious Art Thefts / 20th Century

(Sourced from Forbes Magazine)

The theft of treasure is nothing new – it is one of folklore’s most persistent themes – but thanks to novels, films and the newspaper headlines, art theft has captured the public’s imagination like few other types of crime have. Below is a list of the top 10 (plus a bonus) post-war art thefts.

1. The Duke of Wellington – Goya
In 1961, Charles Wrightsman, the oil-rich American collector, bought Goya’s “Portrait of the Duke of Wellington” for $392,000 and planned to take it to the United States. There was such a public outrage that the British government raised the necessary matching sum. Less than three weeks after its triumphal hanging in the National Gallery, it was stolen. The thief demanded a ransom of the same amount and said he was going to devote it to charity.

In 1965, the thief sent a claim ticket to London’s Daily Mirror and the painting was picked up by police in a railway baggage office. The thief, an unemployed bus driver named Kempton Bunton, gave himself up six weeks later. He had planned to use the money to buy TV licenses for the poor, serving three months in jail for his offense.


2. The Flagellation of Christ – Piero della Francesco
Italy, the home of art, has also been the home of art theft. When two paintings by Piero della Francesco, “The Flagellation of Christ” and “The Madonna of Senigallia” and a Raphael, “The Mute,” were cut from their frames and stolen from the Ducal Palace, Urbino, it was described as “the art crime of the century.”

The crime was wholly driven by profit. It was committed by local criminals who planned to sell the work on the international market and would not be the last to discover that much-reproduced masterworks are hopelessly illiquid. The paintings were recovered undamaged in Locarno, Switzerland, in March 1976.


3. Various Paintings – Renoir, Monet, Corot
The theft of nine paintings, including Renoir’s “Bathers” and Monet’s “Impression, Soleil Levant,” which gave Impressionism its name, from the Marmottan Museum, Paris, took place in 1985. The police at first theorized that the radical group Action Direct had committed the crime. But several paintings stolen from a provincial French museum in early 1984 were recovered in Japan after a tip-off from a fence. The paintings–including Corots–were in the hands of Shuinichi Fujikuma, a known gangster. He had been behind the Marmottan heist too. Indeed, he had circulated a catalogue of the nine soon-to-be-stolen paintings.

Japan’s short statute of limitations on stolen art was notorious, and rumors became rampant that the Japanese mob, aka the Yakuza, had penetrated the art world. The truth was on a smaller scale. Fujikuma had been arrested in France with 7.8 kilos of heroin in 1978. During a 5-year sentence, he came to know Philippe Jamin and Youssef Khimoun, members of an art theft syndicate. They pulled the job for him. But the paintings were recovered in 1991–in Corsica.


4. Pacal’s Burial Mask – Historical
In December 1985, guards from the National Museum of Anthropolgy in Mexico arrived at work to discover that sheets of glass had been removed from seven showcases. The 140 objects that were taken included jade and gold pieces from the Maya, Aztec, Zapotec and Miztec sculptures. The curator, Felipe Solis, estimated that one piece alone–a vase shaped like a monkey–could be worth over $20 million on the market–if a buyer could be found.

Most of the pieces were an inch or so in height. The entire haul would have fitted comfortably into a couple of suitcases. It is still accounted as the single largest theft of precious objects. The Burial Mask was recovered.


5. Rayfish with Basket of Onions – Chardin
The break-in at the Manhattan branch of the London dealer, Colnaghi’s, on East 8th Street was sophisticated. It involved a break-in through a skylight and a maneuver with a rope that could have sent the robbers plunging down the stairwell. Once inside, however, the perpetrators became bumblers, treading on a couple of canvases, and by no means choosing the best on the walls. That said, the 18 paintings and ten drawings they made off with included two paintings by Fra Angelico–insured at $4 million–and “Rayfish with Basket of Onions” by Chardin. Only 14 of the works were ever recovered.

The loot had an estimated value (then) of $6 million to $10 million, making it New York’s biggest art heist. It underlined that pickings at private galleries can rival those at museums–with higher insurance and (usually) lower security.


6. Dried Sunflowers – Van Gogh
Three Van Goghs, including “Dried Sunflowers,” “Weaver’s Interior” and an early version of “The Potato Eaters,” were stolen from the Kroller-Muller Museum in Otterlo, Holland. The wave pattern of art theft generally mirrors that of the art market itself and here it did so specifically. Just two weeks before, a list had been published of the top prices paid for art at Sothebys and Christie’s. It listed five Van Goghs among the top ten, including the $53.9 million paid for “Irises,” then the highest price ever paid for a painting.

The thieves returned and asked for $2.5 million for the other two. The police got them back on July 13, 1989. No ransom was paid.


7. The Storm on the Sea of Galilee – Rembrandt
At 1:24 A.M. on the morning after St Patrick’s Day, two men in police uniforms knocked on a side door of Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, mentioning a “disturbance” in the grounds. The guards let them in and were swiftly handcuffed and locked in a cellar. The work the thieves made off with included “The Concert” by Vermeer, “The Storm on the Sea of Galilee”–which is Rembrandt’s only marine painting–”Chez Tortoni” by Manet, five pieces by Degas and some miscellanea that includes a Chinese bronze beaker and a fitment from a Napoleonic flagstaff. Untouched were the Renaissance paintings, including Titian’s “Europa,” which is arguably the most valuable piece in the collection.

The current dollar figure attached to the stolen work is $300 million. In 1997, with the investigation moribund, the museum raised the reward from $1 million to $5 million. Tipsters understandably emerged, amongst them a Boston antiques dealer, William P. Youngworth III. Youngworth was a shady character but gained attention by telling Tom Mashberg, a reporter on the Boston Herald, that he and a colorful character named Myles Connor could procure the art’s return. His price: immunity for himself, the release of Connor from jail and, naturally, the reward. Connor was behind bars at the time of the Gardner heist–for another art heist–but claimed he could locate the art if released. Credibility soon began to leak. Then Mashberg got a telephone call that led to a nocturnal drive to a warehouse, where he was shown–by torchlight–what may or may not have been Rembrandt’s “Storm on the Sea of Galilee.” He was later given some paint chips, supposedly from that painting. Doubts sprang up (the chips were not from the Rembrandt). The U.S. Attorney demanded that one of the paintings be returned as proof that the works were on hand. This didn’t happen. Negotiations petered out. Connor is now out of jail, but the art is still missing.


8. Portrait of a Persian Painter – Unknown
The Kuwait National Museum and the Dar al-Athat al-Islamiyya (the House of Islamic Antiquities) were looted during the seven-month occupation by Iraq. The buildings were then torched. The two museums housed a collection of Islamic art–one of the world’s best–put together by Kuwait’s al Sabah family in the ’70s and ’80s. Some 20,000 pieces–including arms, armour, ceramics, earthenware, seals and decorative arts from ancient Persia, Mamluk Egypt and the Mughal emperors in India and Kuwait of the Bronze Age–were packed in crates and driven to the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad in a 17-lorry convoy.

There was pessimism about prospects for getting anything back, except by buying it in bits and pieces on the black market, but a small team of curators arrived in Baghdad six months after the ceasefire. Between Sept. 16 and Oct. 20, 1991, some 16,000 pieces had been returned.

The massive state-sponsored art theft recalls the behavior of conquerors in earlier wars, including European monarchs and Napoleon. And the intention of Saddam–like that of Hitler–went beyond plunder. He wanted to erase Kuwait’s historic and cultural identity.


9. Wheatfield with Crows – Van Gogh
Four Dutchmen were arrested for robbing the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam of no fewer than 20 Van Goghs. They were recovered within an hour. The police were of the opinion that had the robbery been successful; no ransom would have been demanded. The canvases would simply have become financial instruments in the global black economy.

Three of the canvases were badly damaged, including one of Van Gogh’s visionary last paintings, “Wheatfield with Crows.” The fact that most works get back to where they belong in pretty good shape can make one overconfident. But, as shown here, art works are frail and luck can run out.


10. Young Parisian – Renoir
A few minutes before closing time in late December, a man walked into the National Museum in Stockholm toting a submachine gun. He pointed it at an unarmed guard in the lobby while two accomplices who were already inside seized a 1630 Rembrandt self-portrait and two paintings by Renoir, “Young Parisian” and “The Conversation,” on the second floor. They made a caper-movie getaway, sprinkling nails on the ground to ward off pursuit and zooming away in a motorboat.

The thieves then approached a lawyer who relayed their ransom demand: $10 million per painting. The police officer in charge of the inquiry asked for photographs. The photographs were convincing, and the police promptly demanded that the lawyer reveal the identities of the thieves. The lawyer refused, citing confidentiality, and insisted he had “done nothing wrong,” telling the robbers he wanted no go-between fee. He is nonetheless being treated as a suspect. Eight men have been arrested in this case and there is a warrant out for a ninth. But at the time of writing the paintings are still missing.


Bonus: The Scream – Edvard Munch
On August 22, 2004, the Munch Museum’s Scream was stolen at gunpoint, along with Munch’s Madonna. Museum officials expressed hope that they would see the painting again, theorizing that perhaps the thieves would seek ransom money. On April 8, 2005, Norwegian police arrested a suspect in connection with the theft. On April 28, 2005, it was rumored that the two paintings had been burned by the thieves to conceal evidence. On June 1, 2005, the City Government of Oslo offered a reward of 2 million Norwegian krones (about 250,000 euro) for information that could help locate the paintings.

In early 2006, six men with previous criminal records were scheduled to go on trial, variously charged with either helping to plan or execute the robbery. Three of the men were convicted and sentenced to between four and eight years in prison in May of 2006. Two of the convicted art thieves, Bjørn Hoen and Petter Tharaldsen, were also ordered to pay 750 million kroner (US $122 million) to the City of Oslo, which is where the paintings were previously located.

Both paintings were recovered slightly damaged.

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