Stolen art can’t be sold but is still coveted

Details of Munch’s The Scream — one of the world’s most iconic paintings of which there are only four copies, but also the world’s most stolen painting.

The hole in the wall at the Poundland shop in Haringay is all that remains of ‘Slave Labour’ a Banksy mural created prior to the Jubilee celebrations in London, last year. (See a copy at www.banksy.co.uk)

Antique and collectible objects are not as valuable as they used to be. So the focus of thieves in this recession has been on gold, jewellery and electronic items that are easy to offload.