After the theft of the golden helmet from the Drents Museum, it is currently guessing to the reason. You don’t have to do it for the value of the gold, art historian Arthur Brand thinks. He is known as ‘art detective’ because he often detects stolen art.
He fears one of the top pieces from ancient times. “Not just for Romania, it’s world heritage,” says Brand. “If it is not recovered, this goes down in history as a dramatic art robbery. It is a shame that this happens for a few gripstivers,” Brand tells the NOS.
“I really hoped that a painting had been stolen,” says Brand. “Because they try to sell a painting and then the police have a chance to resolve the theft.”
With the robbery of a golden helmet there is a chance that the gold will be melted down, a fire fear. But his plea: don’t do it, it hardly yields anything. “It is not even 24 carat gold. If you melt it, it may be worth 60,000 euros. At least three perpetrators are involved, so it would yield 20,000 euros per person.”
“I would say: put it somewhere, bring it back, because this is not worth it.”
It can also cause the perpetrators a heavier punishment if they are caught and have to go to court. “They go into the bowl for the burglary for a few years. But if you have to tell the judge that the helmet is no longer there because it has been melted, then you go behind bars twice as long.”
Brand sees a big problem, now that museums are also becoming victims of explosions. “No museum can arm themselves against this kind of burglaries,” he says.
He notes that the Drents Museum is not the first art institution to be robbed with an explosion. Three months ago, Warhol works were captured in a gallery in Oisterwijk. “The Netherlands is the country worldwide with the most attacks and explosives, and nobody seems to know how to stop this,” said Brand. “And the thieves now notice that it works. The Sky is the Limit, the fence is off the Dam. That is very worrying, on all fronts. The police and the government have to find an answer very quickly.”