The Wall Street Journal called him “a living legend.”
The London Times dubbed him “the most famous art detective
in the world.”
In Priceless, Robert K. Wittman, the founder of the FBI’s
Art Crime Team, pulls back the curtain on his remarkable career for
the first time, offering a real-life international thriller to
rival The Thomas Crown Affair.
Rising from humble roots as the son of an antique dealer, Wittman
built a twenty-year career that was nothing short of extraordinary.
He went undercover, usually unarmed, to catch art thieves,
scammers, and black market traders in Paris and Philadelphia, Rio
and Santa Fe, Miami and Madrid.
In this page-turning memoir, Wittman fascinates with the stories
behind his recoveries of priceless art and antiquities: The golden
armor of an ancient Peruvian warrior king. The Rodin sculpture that
inspired the Impressionist movement. The headdress Geronimo wore at
his final Pow-Wow. The rare Civil War battle flag carried into
battle by one of the nation’s first African-American
regiments.
The breadth of Wittman’s exploits is unmatched: He traveled the
world to rescue paintings by Rockwell and Rembrandt, Pissarro,
Monet and Picasso, often working undercover overseas at the whim of
foreign governments. Closer to home, he recovered an original copy
of the Bill of Rights and cracked the scam that rocked the PBS
series Antiques Roadshow.
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.
The art thieves and scammers Wittman caught run the gamut from rich
to poor, smart to foolish, organized criminals to desperate
loners. The smuggler who brought him a looted 6th-century
treasure turned out to be a high-ranking diplomat. The
appraiser who stole countless heirlooms from war heroes’
descendants was a slick, aristocratic con man. The museum
janitor who made off with locks of George Washington''s hair just
wanted to make a few extra bucks, figuring no one would miss what
he’d filched.
In his final case, Wittman called on every bit of knowledge and
experience in his arsenal to take on his greatest challenge:
working undercover to track the vicious criminals behind what might
be the most audacious art theft of all.
From the Hardcover edition.
關於作者：
ROBERT K. WITTMAN spent twenty years as an FBI special agent. He
created and was senior investigator for the bureau’s Art Crime
Team. Today, he is president of the international art security firm
Robert Wittman Inc.
JOHN SHIFFMAN is an investigative reporter at The Philadelphia
Inquirer. He has won numerous writing awards and was a 2009
finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
From the Hardcover edition.
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