News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Stolen irreplaceable books found under floor of Romanian house. Parent comment

Re:Stolen irreplaceable books found under floor of Romanian ... by masklinn on Monday November 16, 2020 @01:22AM (#25108699)
The resale value of rare books is nowhere near 0. There are cases in the millions every few years, see Priore/Schulman conviction earlier this year.

The difficulty is fencing them for something approaching their value if you’re not part of “that world”, I’d expect that’s what the thief did not consider.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Stolen irreplaceable books found under floor of Romanian ... by anovikov on Monday November 16, 2020 @01:48AM (#25108860)
Trick is, there were definitely lists of them kept somewhere and with books being unique, anyone trying to sell one would get arrested.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Stolen irreplaceable books found under floor of Romanian ... by masklinn on Monday November 16, 2020 @02:53AM (#25109206)
> anyone trying to sell one would get arrested.

Absolutely not. Again, every few years there are cases of millions worth of books having been stolen (and sold). Priore operated for 20 years.

Discretion is highly valued in the art world, and collectors are generally careless at best, they will balk at obviously stolen items but a thin layer of legitimacy will suffice.

But that is why fencing rate art is not trivial unless un steal to order.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Stolen irreplaceable books found under floor of Romanian ... by ThePreacherMan on Monday November 16, 2020 @02:35AM (#25109110)
Well, you wont list them for sale on catawiki...but rather trough a guy that knows a guy that knows a guy with refined taste.
[ Parent | on HN ]