Art and Antique Smuggling Market Value: $10 Billion
The Times of India has reported that ” According to intelligence reports, antique smuggling is estimated to be around $10 billion worldwide.”
Other published reports has stated that the size of the smuggled art and antique market to be between $5 to $8 billion.
Source: Arun Kumar Das, “Govt to crack down on antique smuggling,” [...]
$752.5 million of art stolen from museums over 5 years
Between May 2003 and February 2008,$752.5 million of art was stolen from museums and private collections worldwide.
Source: Associated Press, “List of Notable Art Heists,” Washington Post, February 11, 2008.
More than 3,600 Buddhist antiques smuggled out of India in 2006
Source: Reuters, ” India to curb smuggling of Buddhist relics,” Scotsman, October 17, 2006.
Between 5,000 to 12,000 smuggled objects from China reach art market each year
Source: Peter F. Watson and Cecilia Todeschini, The Medici Conspiracy: The Illicit Journey of Looted Antiquities, (New York: PublicAffairs, 2006), pg. 30.
Recovery rate of stolen art is 10 percent
Source: Tom Mueller, ” To Sketch a Thief,” New York Times Magazine, December 17, 2006.
