Warhol piece among high-priced art stolen in Detroit
A 3-foot-by-3-foot silkscreen Andy Warhol used to make "Flowers" prints was stolen last month, the FBI says.
May 22nd, 2012
08:11 PM ET

Warhol piece among high-priced art stolen in Detroit

FBI agents are trying to determine who stole 19 pieces of high-priced art, including an Andy Warhol silkscreen, from a Detroit business.

The art - worth millions of dollars, according to CNN affiliate WDIV - was taken between April 27 and April 29 from a business owned by an art collector in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood, the FBI said Tuesday. The agency didn't name the business or the owner.

The collection includes a 1960s silkscreen that Warhol used to make “Flowers” prints, according to the FBI.  The other pieces of art, including paintings and drawings, were done by Larry Rivers, Francesco Clemente, Philip Taaffe, Joseph Beuys and Peter Schuyff.

Investigators suspect that the thief or thieves “may have already crossed state lines, if not left the country, in an effort to sell them,”  FBI spokesman Simon Shaykhet said.

“We’re putting a message out to art dealers, pawn shop owners, and anyone dealing in art to be aware of it,” Shaykhet said.

The art was neither locked up nor on display, the FBI said.

A $5,000 reward is being offered for the pieces’ recovery. They have been entered into the FBI’s national stolen art database.

Up to $6 billion worth of art is stolen each year, according to the FBI.

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Filed under: Art • Crime • Michigan
soundoff (48 Responses)
  1. bobcat (in a hat)©

    Detroit most definitely has it's problems. When I left there 35 years ago, it was in it's beggining pangs. I hate to see my birth city dying such a slow death. I've got many fond memories of the old Briggs stadium, which was later named Tiger stadium.
    BTW is that place still there ? It was on the corner of Michigan Ave. and Trumbull. And the old checker cab station right across the street.

    But that was Detroit. To get away, we used to go north around Mackinaw City, around the Black River area. Beautiful country and some of the best rainbow trout fishing you've ever seen. We would take a two or three day float fish trip. It was fanatastic. Wow, I just made myself homesick.

    May 23, 2012 at 6:16 pm | Report abuse |
  2. Greek American

    @bobcat
    The stadium is gone, we have Comerica Park now where the Tigers play and Ford Field for the Lions.
    I agree with you as far as yes there are nice places to go in the state but things have changed around here, and mostly not for the better.
    And I hope you don't get too homesick as your jokes have made me laugh, especially these Michigan ones. Thanks.

    May 23, 2012 at 7:24 pm | Report abuse |
  3. chrissy

    Wow bobcat, now youre talkin, and im very homesick for the great upnorth of michigan. And yea greek american, wayne county has issues but it also has fabulous, caring people! Lmao after all it has you and me right? Lol.

    May 23, 2012 at 9:42 pm | Report abuse |
  4. affordable art

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    June 7, 2012 at 8:04 am | Report abuse |
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  6. mandfkiwsa

    What? Someone had millions of dollars of art stolen from a joint in Corktown? Are you serious? What were the security precautions? He didn't even know what DAY the stuff was stolen? Moron. This sounds insane. Oh well, no sympathy for the owner really.

    October 16, 2012 at 11:36 am | Report abuse |
    • Folks are so funny...

      Um, Check your calendar. April 27-29 was a weekend. Maybe a business was CLOSED FOR THE WEEKEND (Friday eve. through Sunday). Ya think? So, you come back Monday, find s**t missing, and you don't know when (over the last THREE DAYS) it was stolen. GET IT now?

      October 16, 2012 at 12:02 pm | Report abuse |
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