Here’s another database for those who love Art and Books too much!
- by Bruce E. McKinney
Adding gravitas to the centuries old canard, "I've been robbed"
It’s Interpol’s Stolen Works of Art Database. Yes, there is Abe and Biblio for books and art, many of which are absolute steals but now there is a database exclusively of steals. And how many could there be? Good grief: 52,000 lost pieces of art, all added to Interpol’s ID-Art that you can access on your phone. How convenient to browse art fairs or shops to see if what you’re admiring is hot or not. Is this progress or evidence of a decline of civilization. Maybe both.
The internet has certainly increased opportunities for thieves to sell their ill-gotten goods while their online offers may remain to be stored in perpetuity.
Its’ their main tool to tackle the traffic in cultural property.
Go to the Interpol website. There you can post a picture that if it matches you’ll be provided additional information.
The goal is to stop trafficking.
The app can be downloaded on the Play Store for Android and Google, the App Store or iPhone users and is available in Arabic, English, French and Spanish.
