DAMage Report Research - Stolen Art or Stolen Logic?

I've been following this story for a few weeks and it has proven to be the most ridiculously investigated theft of art i've run across - with wild accusations, poor reporting, possibly shoddy police investigating centered around two men who may or may not have had art stolen. The whole thing does smell funny but that doesn't necessarily indicate guilt. Sometimes people are just stupid. Stupid with $80 million dollars worth of art is pretty impressive though.

In initial stories released I kept wondering why the hell no one was talking to the insurance people who had provided quotes that "were too expensive," for the partners to be able to afford it. Obviously they had to see the collection in order to evaluate it. Insurance reps have now come forward but reports of their comments are still muddied and confusing.

In a recent conversation with a friend I pointed out that without insurance, there would be no purpose in pretending a collection had been stolen. He pointed out that stolen art, especially relatively unknown pieces go way up in value due to the publicity. He speculated that perhaps the owners intended to miraculously reacquire their stolen art and then sell it off at the new higher value due to the publicity. Hmmmmm.... that would be pretty diabolical. And i would imagine with the police watching them so carefully, very hard to pull off.

Below are some research links on various reports on this story. I think this will be Wednesday's Art Topic on the Damage Report. Feel free to share your thoughts.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/06/MN581A1R2I.DTL

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-art-heist9-2009oct09,0,6112114.story

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/10/09/one_of_two_suspects_in_art_theft_might_be_a_victim_officials_say/?page=2

http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_13527877

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/van-gogh-art-heist-inside-job/story?id=8770592

This one is excellent info on the reputed stolen Pollack:

http://www.montereyherald.com/local/ci_13533049