"Their theory for now is that the thieves dragged the coin through the museum, out the window and then along the railway track, possibly reaching a park on the opposite bank of the river near the Hackescher Markt, a public square in Berlin that is home to a number of late-night bars and cafes."

Thieves stole a 220-pound gold coin -- about the weight of a refrigerator -- from a museum in Berlin.

"Edelman Arts, the company of former Wall Street financier turned art dealer Asher Edelman, filed a lawsuit seeking to complete a $26.8 million sale of four works by Keith Haring and one by Edvard Munch."

Story here.

Do we need more security at museums?

Earlier this month, a visitor to the National Gallery in London slashed a Thomas Gainsborough painting.  (It went back on view yesterday.)  Noah Charney has a suggestion:

"There is no such thing as a risk-free museum, but there is a way to minimize risk of damage and theft, a way that many top museums have chosen (the Louvre, the Prado, the Van Gogh, the Uffizi, to name a few), but which the National Gallery has not — install airport-style security at the entrance. It is a modest inconvenience to museum-goers, but one that they will be used to, from travel in this day and age: moving single-file through a metal detector and having their bags scanned before entering the museum to explore freely. This method would prevent attacks with metal objects, like knives and screwdrivers, and would be a strong deterrent to any attacks at all — potential perpetrators are likely to be scared off by having to pass under the scrutiny of security and move slowly into the museum, clearly filmed on CCTV, and with nervous or suspicious behavior likely to be noted before they even enter. In an era of concern over terrorist attacks on populous sites, this is also a good idea. Of course, a determined baddie can still find ways to damage art, but the risk is mitigated."

"Prosecutors seek 4 years for ex-Field Museum worker who stole nearly $1 million"

Story here.

Could blockchain pave the way for resale royalties? (UPDATED)

Interesting discussion here.

UPDATE:  Michael Rushton tweets:  "That there might be a technology for facilitating it does not make resale royalties a sound idea."

Artist convicted of murder

South African photographer Zwelethu Mthethwa, represented by Jack Shainman Gallery.  Story here.

Held in the public ruff

The Museum of the Dog is coming to New York.

"The jury could have determined that the actual use made by Defendants of the Plaintiff's work was worth $75,000 per infringing copy."

Findlaw:  Sculptor Wins Big in 9th Cir. After Billionaire Copies His Work.

Decision here.  Background here.

"Art Dealer Ordered to Repay Profits From Painting Sale"

Story here.  Decision, by Justice Ramos, here.

Lawsuit Over Stolen Johns Drawings

Artlyst:  "A Canadian gallery has brought a federal complaint against a New York art dealer alleging he tried to give works by the American ‘Pop’ artist Jasper Johns official provenances."

This arises from the theft of works by a longtime studio assistant of Johns, which resulted in an 18-month prison sentence for the assistant.

Greg Allen says the new suit "is bonkers. Dorfman [the dealer] is in deep, pocketed millions, yet not in jail."

"Selfie Snapper Smashes Kusama Pumpkin Sculpture at Hirshhorn Museum"

Story here.  Will Goetzmann tweets that's a "[r]isk of people interacting [with] art. Her work is engaging and fun. Keep it accessible."

"Removal of Student Painting in Capital Leads to Federal Lawsuit"

New York Times story here.  Analysis from First Amendment scholar Eugene Volokh here.

Eight Years for Spider-Man

NYT story here.

"Rubin Museum of Art co-chair claims couple conned her into paying $18M for knockoffs of ancient Indian jewelry"

Daily News story here.  "'While Rubin was quite knowledgeable about various art forms, she had no particular expertise in jewelry,' the suit says."

"We’re looking at each other, and we’re like, ‘I think he just stole those? We should probably do something.'"

The Boston Globe:  Attempted art heist foiled by BU students.

"I think you've been leading a fraudulent life for a very long time."

"A Michigan art dealer was sentenced Thursday to more than three years in prison for what prosecutors said was an extensive scheme to sell fake works purportedly by renowned artists."

"Sotheby’s called it 'undoubtedly a forgery' based on research conducted by Orion Analytical, a scientific analysis firm that Sotheby’s acquired last year"

NYT:   Sotheby’s Files Second Lawsuit Over Works It Calls Fake.

"[Orion's] Mr. Martin said that he took 21 paint samples from many different areas of the paint layer and found the 20th-century pigment throughout the work, including in areas of the painting that were never restored. 'It’s a bit like taking the pulse of a corpse 21 times,' he said."

"If you are not going to charge for admission you have to find a way to support it."

Charles Saatchi is selling off 100 works from his art collection to help fund free admission to his gallery.

Of course, if a U.S. museum did this in order to provide free admission, there would be rioting in the streets. As Tim Schneider points out:

"Saatchi's sell-off represents one clear advantage their founders hold over public nonprofit institutions. In the US, influential professional associations like the AAMD ... hold that it's cultural sacrilege to deaccession even a single work to cover operational costs, let alone more than one... despite that they also judge it A-OK to divest pieces in order to bankroll new acquisitions. ...  That may not make private museums better places to appreciate art than public ones. But in at least one important respect, it does empower them to run as better businesses."

"All images of public-domain artworks in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection — about 375,000 — are now free for anyone to use however they may please."

"The museum announced on Tuesday that it had changed its open access policy to allow free, unrestricted use of any images of artworks in the public domain, using the license designation Creative Commons Zero."

"In an unusual case that marks the second time in recent years that an artist has been pressured over a failure to authenticate a work ..."

"... actor David Spade has filed a lawsuit against photographer Peter Beard, his wife Nejma, and former Beard dealer Peter Tunney over a work he purchased 15 years ago and is currently trying to sell."

It's hard to tell exactly what's going on, but this seems like a much more complicated case than Peter Doig's. Spade apparently bought the works from Tunney's Time Is Always Now gallery, which, at one Time (but not Now), clearly represented Beard.