Austria Recovers Missing $80m Sculpture
Luke Harding
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
________________________
Vienna (Austria):
It is one of the world's greatest Renaissance artefacts, an extraordinary gold-plated salt-cellar by the Florentine genius Benvenuto Cellini. But the Austrian police had no idea what had happened to the €50 million ($80 million) figurine after it was stolen in 2003 from a Vienna museum.On Sunday, detectives were celebrating.
They had recovered the unique gold and enamel cruet set and caught the man suspected of stealing it.It was only several days later, through the media, that the thief realised he had made off with a Renaissance masterpiece.
He later tried to blackmail the insurance company, police alleged, demanding first €5 million, then €10 million.Last November the suspect agreed to return the cruet set - but called off the handover by text message after allegedly leading police on a wild goose chase through Vienna. However, a video camera captured the suspect buying a mobile phone.
Last Friday, police published the picture of a smiling, middle-aged man with thick black hair and brilliant white teeth. Friends immediately recognised him.The 50-year-old suspect phoned up to deny his involvement but later, in the presence of his lawyer, confessed, leading detectives on Saturday to a wood near Zwettl, a town 90 kilometres north of Vienna, police said.
Jan 24, 2006
Luke Harding
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
________________________
Vienna (Austria):
It is one of the world's greatest Renaissance artefacts, an extraordinary gold-plated salt-cellar by the Florentine genius Benvenuto Cellini. But the Austrian police had no idea what had happened to the €50 million ($80 million) figurine after it was stolen in 2003 from a Vienna museum.On Sunday, detectives were celebrating.
They had recovered the unique gold and enamel cruet set and caught the man suspected of stealing it.It was only several days later, through the media, that the thief realised he had made off with a Renaissance masterpiece.
He later tried to blackmail the insurance company, police alleged, demanding first €5 million, then €10 million.Last November the suspect agreed to return the cruet set - but called off the handover by text message after allegedly leading police on a wild goose chase through Vienna. However, a video camera captured the suspect buying a mobile phone.
Last Friday, police published the picture of a smiling, middle-aged man with thick black hair and brilliant white teeth. Friends immediately recognised him.The 50-year-old suspect phoned up to deny his involvement but later, in the presence of his lawyer, confessed, leading detectives on Saturday to a wood near Zwettl, a town 90 kilometres north of Vienna, police said.
Jan 24, 2006
