Independent Arts News Reporting True Art Crimes Event with Author & FBI Special Agent Robert Wittman
Pictured Above: Author Robert Wittman, juxtaposed with his book, “Priceless“. Photo Credit: Sourced.
NEWSROOM POST: NEW HOPE, PA
New Hope, PA – True art crimes author and FBI special agent Robert Wittman will be in New Hope, PA, on Wednesday, October 25th, at 6:30 PM. Join Wittman for a fascinating presentation highlighting his unique expertise and experiences in solving over $300 million of art crimes, including the recovery of Rembrandt’s 1630 Self-Portrait valued at $36 million. This special event will be held at the Thompson Memorial Presbyterian Church at 1680 Aquetong Road, New Hope, PA. Doors will open at 6 PM, a Q&A will follow the presentation, and light refreshments will be served. Tickets are $20.00 and can be reserved by emailing act2@tmpc.org or call Thompson Memorial Church at 215.862.2440.
Robert K. Wittman is a highly decorated former Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent who was assigned to the Philadelphia Field Division from 1988 to 2008. As a result of specialized training in art, antiques, jewelry and gem identification, he served as the FBI’s investigative expert in art and cultural property crime investigations. During his 20-year career with the FBI, he helped recover more that $300 million worth of stolen art and cultural property resulting in the prosecution and conviction of numerous individuals. In 2005, he was instrumental in the creation of the FBI’s rapid deployment Art Crime Team (ACT). Wittman is also the author of Priceless and Devil’s Diary. Examples of major recoveries include:
–Theft of one of the original 14 copies of the Bill of Rights stolen by a Union soldier in April 1865, and returned to North Carolina in 2005, 140 years later. Recovery valued at $30 million
–Recovery of Native American Apache medicine man Geronimo’s eagle feather war bonnet valued at $1.2 million
–Rembrandt’s 1630 Self-Portrait valued at $36 million
Books will be available for purchase and the Author will sign all copies, purchased the night of the event or prior. For more information and to save your seat, email act2@tmpc.org or call Thompson Memorial Church at 215.862.2440. Tickets for the event are $20.00.
More About the Author:
Rising from humble roots as the son of an antiques dealer, Wittman built a twenty-year law-enforcement career that was nothing short of extraordinary. Armed with a scholar’s passion, a con man’s smile, and a dare- devil’s nerves, he worked undercover to catch art thieves, scammers, and black-market traders in Paris and Philadelphia, Rio and Santa Fe, Miami and Madrid. By the FBI’s accounting, Wittman saved hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of art and antiquities. He says the statistic isn’t important. After all, who’s to say what is worth more—a Rembrandt self-portrait or an American flag carried into battle? They’re both priceless.
Robert K. Wittman joined the FBI as a Special Agent in 1988 and was assigned to the Philadelphia Field Division. As a result of specialized training in art, antiques, jewelry and gem identification, he served as the FBI’s investigative expert in this field. During his 20-year career with the FBI he recovered more that $300 million worth of stolen art and cultural property resulting in the prosecution and conviction of numerous individuals. In 2005, he was instrumental in the creation of the FBI’s rapid deployment Art Crime Team. He was named as the ACT’s Senior Investigator and instructed the team members in how to conduct cultural property investigations. He has represented the United States around the world conducting investigations and instructing in- ternational police and museums in investigation, recovery and security techniques.
Among the cases detailed in his best-selling book Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World’s Stolen Treasures are:
-Going undercover in Madrid to extract $50 million worth of Goya and Brueghel paintings from a Spanish mobster
-Catching an appraiser turned con man who used PBS’s Antiques Roadshow to steal countless heirlooms from war heroes’ descendants
-Rescuing the Rodin sculpture that launched the Impressionist movement
-A case that involved three countries, wire taps, Hollywood mobsters, and a trio of punks from Iraq, which resulted in the rescue of two Renoirs and a Rembrandt worth $40 million
-Recovering the golden armor of an ancient Peruvian warrior king
-Saving an original copy of the Bill of Rights that had been believed lost for a hundred years
And in his final case, Wittman called on every bit of knowledge and experience in his arsenal to tackle his greatest challenge: working undercover to track the criminals behind the century’s largest unsolved art crime, the $500-million-dollar theft from the Isabella Gardner Museum in Boston. Priceless is a real-life international thriller to rival The Thomas Crown Affair, told by a man who has seen it all . . . and can finally reveal what he knows.
