Tag: Sculpture

Another theft of a Henry Moore bronze

Henry Moore's Sundial sculpture

This sundial sculpture by Henry Moore was stolen earlier this week. All scrap metal shops should be on notice to look out for the piece, and I’m sure police are in contact with scrap metal buyers in the region:

 The 22-inch (56cm) high “Sundial” sculpture had been placed in the garden of The Henry Moore Foundation in Much Hadham, Herts, to be enjoyed by visitors. The structure, in the shape of two interlinked crescents, is believed to have been stolen between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, when members of staff spotted it missing. Police have now launched an investigation into the theft, amid fears it could have been stolen to be melted down.

Let’s hope this half a million pound work of art won’t be sold for only a few hundred pounds and is recovered quickly. 

  1. Hannah Furness, Henry Moore sculpture worth £500,000 stolen from grounds of his former home, Telegraph.co.uk, July 12, 2012.
Questions or Comments? Email me at derek.fincham@gmail.com

Theft of a bust of Rodin’s "The Thinker" (UPDATED)


A number of bronze sculptures, including one of the casts of Auguste Rodin’s “The Thinker” has been stolen from a Dutch museum. Though it is not particularly rare (there exist 74 other casts of the work), it may be worth hundreds of thousands of Euros. This is another in a string of recent bronze thefts. Some bronze busts have recently gone missing from the Pere Lachaise cemetery as well. Tragically, the works may be melted down, as bronze can be quite valuable. There is also speculation that the bronze may be used to make counterfeit ancient coins.

UPDATE:

Two men have been arrested in connection with the thefts. As I suspected, it appears the thieves were only after the bronze to melt it down. They were apparently quite surprised at the level of media attention. Sadly, it appears that one of the legs was sawed off in preparation for melting it down. On the bright side though, perhaps they can use one of the other thinker busts to reconstitute this one.

Questions or Comments? Email me at derek.fincham@gmail.com