The Big Heist

Hi everyone! As most of my friends in the USA probably know I am back in the USA for a few weeks to get caught up with friends and enjoy the lovely California winter.
But the update is an incredible story that happened recently in Vienna.

On May 11, 2003, the Saliera was stolen from the Art History museum in Vienna. Cellini's Saliera is a very famous piece of sculpture, if anyone reading this took Renaissance art history in college, you should remember this particular sculpture. It has been described as the "Mona Lisa" of sculpture, and with the exception of Michelangelo's David, is possibly the most famous piece of sculpture in the world. This piece was one of the highlights at the Vienna Art Historical Museum. Estimated to be worth $60,000,000 (THAT'S RIGHT! Sixty Million Dollars!) it was one of the most valuable art objects ever stolen!
After it was stolen there were calls to fire the director of the museum, and it was an embarrassing and tragic loss.

Then, just two days ago, on January 21st, after nearly three years, the Saliera was finally recovered. The recovery process was a long and difficult investigation involving some high-tech surveillance and tracing phone records. When the police finally apprehended the suspect, he confessed and told the police where he had hidden the sculpture, and when it was finally returned, the sculpture hadn't been damaged.

Now, what's so strange about the whole story is that the man the police captured, works across the street from our shop/office. He even came into our shop, and Anna saw him just a few days ago before he was arrested. And, of course, in true-criminal fashion, the art-thief owns and operates a burglar alarm company (he's got a cute window display featuring Disney's Beagle Boys memorabilia, which now seems just a bit ominous). We called him many times to try to get an estimate for an alarm system for our shop, but he never really returned our calls. In retrospect, I'm glad he didn't.