The Heist That Never Was

An unwitting art collector had bought the work of modern art for two million dollars, and a large insurance company had paid out on it to the tune of another two million. And yet, all along the German expressionist painting by Kandinsky was hidden in plain view exactly where it had been for the past forty years.

All it took was a corrupt art expert who had vouched to the art collector that what he had bought was the original and had convinced the insurance company that what was still hanging on the wall was a fake.

Of course, some signs of theft having taken place had to be staged. The work of art had been temporarily removed and later replaced with a supposed fake. It had all been much smoother than any could have imagined.

The gallery curator had taken his part as the thief, disguised as a workman with a beard, spectacles and brown overalls. And it was all captured on some grainy CCTV footage.

The art expert was pleased with the part he had played, for which he was handsomely rewarded. He smiled as he admired the original Kandinsky hanging on the wall of his humble maisonette.