They mention it briefly, but it seems more like a guess than a hard stat: > “People assume that they’ll find criminal art collectors,” Charney says, “when in f

They mention it briefly, but it seems more like a guess than a hard stat: > “People assume that they’ll find criminal art collectors,” Charney says, “when in fact, we have very few historical examples—maybe a dozen to 20 who fit the bill.” Keep in mind that many hundreds of art objects are stolen every year. Those, needless to say, are bad odds. I'm imagining it would be difficult to rationalize buying black market art in the Western World for a few reasons: 1. It's illegal to knowingly purchase or possess a stolen item 2. Many art collectors buy art to impress their guests, but that's not exactly safe to do with stolen art. So, you need to find a buyer who's OK with the legal risk and would enjoy the art primarily for their own satisfaction and who doesn't mind depriving the museum or the general public of that same privilege. So, your target market is a wealthy person who lives outside the legal reach of the Western World, or who loves art for art's sake, is OK with ethics of stealing and is OK with being complicit in a criminal conspiracy.