Anthony Amore
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Articles by Anthony Amore
10 Questions with an Art Conservator
How exactly does one repair the crown damaged in the Louvre heist? Holly Salmon is the John L. and Susan K. Gardner Director of Conservation at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. She’s a very highly respected objects conservator with decades of experience working on the care and restoration of art. She oversees a team of experts who do the same: paintings, sculptures, textiles—all manner of artifacts.
THE REMBRANDT HEIST
An admiring portrait of a notorious thief, written by a security professional who revels in his subject’s cunning. The art of the steal. Amore, co-author of Stealing Rembrandts (2011) and head of security at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, here describes the colorful life of Myles Connor, a rock musician who turned to a life of crime throughout New England in the 1960s and ’70s.
House of Lies
Like many, I’ve been transfixed by the Brian Walshe case since early January 2023 when it was reported that his wife, Ana, was missing. But as a longtime examiner of art crimes, there was a whole different dimension to the story. When the news first broke, I instantly recognized his name. He had been convicted of perpetrating a clumsy art fraud involving copies of Andy Warhol’s work. In the annals of fakes and forgeries, that crime will not go down as one of history’s great art capers.
If the shoe fits, keep it on
On the evening of 22nd of December, 2001, 197 passengers and crew stood at the security screening checkpoint after an incredibly stressful day of travel. They were supposed to have arrived in Miami many hours earlier but, instead, were diverted to Boston’s Logan International Airport because a man had tried to ignite explosives secreted in his Aspen high-top shoes. They were grateful that their lives were spared, of course.
Ethel Kennedy: The Unlikeliest Art Spy
While it is now well known that the Nazis looted a large amount of art during the Second World War, few understand the breadth of their crimes. Still fewer are aware that Stalin’s army claimed an enormous number of works as spoils of war at the end of WWII that they have not returned. A 2020 article in Apollo Magazine by Jessica Loudis illustrates the point: Thanks for reading Big Security! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
CAPTAIN SWORD AND THE FIRST GREAT AMERICAN ART FRAUD
Image via Anthony M. Amore BY ANTHONY M. AMORE GILBERT STUART'S ICONIC PORTRAIT of George Washington is one of the most often viewed images in the world. Referred to as the Athenaeum portrait, it is this unfinished rendering of the newly constituted republic's first president that has been featured on the American one-dollar bill for more than 100 years. The painting is shared by Boston's Museum of Fine Arts with the National Portrait Gallery, with each institution it at three-year intervals.
You can only talk for so long
Athief and her three accomplices forced their way into the library of a country house, where a rich, elderly couple were listening to music on the gramophone. Waving their assault rifles, they screamed at Sir Alfred and Lady Clementine Beit to lie face down on the floor. The leader, who spoke with a strong French accent, instructed her accomplices to start with the Goya above the mantelpiece, a portrait of a beautiful young actress looking out from beneath slightly worried brows.
It's time for taxpayers get their rebate
The state's tax agency says taxpayers overpaid in the last fiscal year and are owed a $3 billion rebate under a 1986 voter-approved law that caps tax revenues. The next step is for the state auditor to double-check the math and then taxpayers will receive a $250 rebate, on average. The Department of Revenue completed its work before its statutory deadline, and the state auditor should do the same. While Chapter 62F gives the auditor a Sept. 20 deadline, she can give her thumbs up earlier.
GOP's Amore says his opponents are not 'evil' - CommonWealth Magazine
TWENTY YEARS AGO, Charles Krauthammer famously said of the divide between the right and the left that “Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil.” This, he claimed, was a fundamental law of America politics.
License plan for undocumented drivers slams brakes on accountability
In 1995, more than 130,000 refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina resettled in the United States. Greeting them at ports of entry and at refugee resettlement agencies were scores of specially trained immigration officers, myself included. Our mission was twofold: expedite resettlement of war victims and stop the bad actors who would take advantage of our nation’s kindness to enter illegally, create false identities, and escape their crimes. Confirming an immigrant’s identification is no easy task.
The Best Reviewed Memoirs and Biographies, November Edition
Barack Obama’s A Promised Land, Celia Paul’s Self-Portrait, Ed Caesar’s The Moth and the Mountain, Anthony M. Amore’s The Woman Who Stole Vermeer, and Pryia Basil’s Be My Guestall feature among November’s best reviewed memoirs and biographies. Brought to you by Book Marks, Lit Hub’s “Rotten Tomatoes for books.” * 1.
3 ways to make Mass. elections fairer - CommonWealth Magazine
IN THE RECENT general election, local proponents of ranked choice voting were earnest in their desire for electoral reform in Massachusetts. While I vehemently disagreed with their voting system, and am relieved that we on the No on 2 Committee were successful in our efforts to stop ranked choice voting, I do agree that the Commonwealth is in need of reforms to lessen the stranglehold incumbency has on our state.
The True Story of Rose Dugdale, The Woman Who Stole Vermeer
When Rose Dugdale became international news in the mid-1970s, she emerged as an emblem of the times. Fiery, bold, and brash, she defied the conventions of her birth and of her gender in everything from action to attire. At the same time, she was generous, articulate, and unquestionably bright. Her criminality, combined with her lineage, her degree from Oxford, and her doctorate in economics, made her a curiosity to journalists not only in Ireland and Britain but in North America as well.
The Woman Who Stole Vermeer: The True Story of Rose Dugdale and the Russborough House Art Heist|Hardcover
English 1643135295 The extraordinary life and crimes of heiress-turned-revolutionary Rose Dugdale, who in 1974 became the only woman to pull off a major art heist. In the world of crime, there exists an unusual commonality between those who steal art and those who repeatedly kill: they are almost exclusively male. But, as with all things, there is always an outlier—someone who bucks the trend, defying the reliable profiles and leaving investigators and researchers scratching their heads.
What Really Happened to Brown University's “King Philip IV?“
The story of a painting from the Circle of John Singer Sargent of King Philip IV is the subject of an intriguing Twitter thread by Dr. Victoria Reed, the Curator of Provenance at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. A close examination of the recent history of the painting begs some examination. It's a well-weathered axiom of investigators that, when it comes to a crime, there are no coincidences. The journey of this particular painting puts that theorem to the test.
Time to rethink the TSA’s approach to screening
Earlier this week, the Transportation Security Administration at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) made a proud announcement about the efficacy of the federal security screeners checking passengers and carry-on luggage for dangerous items. Though it’s still only October, screeners identified its 26th gun being carried illegally by a passenger attempting to board an aircraft. That ties the record set in 2017 for the most ever firearms caught at BWI.
Time to rethink the TSA
Earlier this week, the Transportation Security Administration at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) made a proud announcement about the efficacy of the federal security screeners checking passengers and carry-on luggage for dangerous items. Though it’s still only October, screeners identified its 26th gun being carried illegally by a passenger attempting to board an aircraft. That ties the record set in 2017 for the most ever firearms caught at BWI.
US withdrawal from Syria is bad for the Kurds and good for Isis
President Trump has earned great currency from his administration’s achievements in the fight against ISIS. After years of savagery on the part of the radical terrorist group, the coalition between U.S. Special Forces and Kurdish-led militia decimated ISIS and had them on the run. A proud President Trump boasted in late 2018 that ISIS had been defeated.
US withdrawal from Syria is bad for the Kurds and good for Isis
President Trump has earned great currency from his administration’s achievements in the fight against ISIS. After years of savagery on the part of the radical terrorist group, the coalition between U.S. Special Forces and Kurdish-led militia decimated ISIS and had them on the run. A proud President Trump boasted in late 2018 that ISIS had been defeated.
How Much Is A Rembrandt Worth? And Why It Matters In The Presidential Campaign
An auction house worker posed in front of a Rembrandt masterpiece entitled: 'A Bust of a Man in a Gorget and Cap' that was sold at auction for 8.4 million pounds in London 2012. Lefteris Pitarakis/AP) Assessing the value of art is always a tricky business. In a field where the intrinsic value of a painting can be more important than its dollar value, assessing a fair tax is unimaginably difficult.
AMORE REACTS TO DEMOCRATS' DEBATE
"When it comes to securing our elections, Secretary Galvin's answers are stuck in the last century and show his complacency, and Mr. Zakim's suggestions expose his inexperience,"Â BOSTON -- Anthony Amore, the Republican candidate for Secretary of State, issued the following statement after the Democratic primary debate between William Galvin and Josh Zakim: "When it comes to securing our elections, Secretary Galvin's answers are stuck in the last century and show his complacency, and Mr....
Amore Renews Call on Galvin to Take a Position on Non-Citizen Voting
"Massachusetts voters deserve to know where their current Secretary of State stands on an issue that is at the very heart of our democracy," June 23, 2018 Boston, MA -- Anthony Amore, candidate for Secretary of State, today called on the incumbent Democrat, William Galvin, to take a position on the left-wing proposal to give voting rights to non-citizens.
Why Isn’t Anyone Searching For Montreal’s Stolen Masterpieces?
Among the myths about how art heists are carried out is the perception that they are the work of highly-skilled cat burglars who rappel into dark galleries in the middle of the night to plunder museums. It’s thought that they carefully, if not mysteriously, choose from the collection, and expertly subdue blundering security guards who respond to the scene, surprised and unprepared for what they have found. From a purely statistical perspective, this never happens.
Despite Leading Signs, Perpetrators of 1985 de Kooning Heist May Never Be Identified
In season one of True Detective, Marty Hart, played brilliantly by Woody Harrelson, is speaking to two investigators about cracking a troublesome case. “You know the detective’s curse?” he asks. “The solution was right under my nose, but I was paying attention to the wrong clues.” It is indeed a fear we face. As a result, we’re loath to discount what seems obvious, and we don’t believe in coincidences.
Hot Heist: Over 40 Warhols Stolen in 10 Years
A year has now passed since seven silk-screen prints by Andy Warhol were stolen from Missouri’s Springfield Art Museum. The familiar soup cans, taken from a set of 10, are estimated to be worth $500,000. Perhaps no closer to a recovery, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is seeking the public’s help by offering a $25,000 reward for any information that leads to a recovery. In terms of criminal activity involving art, the theft of work by Andy Warhol has become an epidemic.
How John McEnroe Sees the Art World After Being Duped in an $88M Scam
During an interview for his new book, But Seriously, John McEnroe reaped a great deal of attention for his appraisal of Serena Williams’ chances on the tennis court against the world’s best male competition. But lost in the commotion were the stories he told in the book about his experiences in the art world. They not only involve some of the biggest names, but should also give buyers pause.
Why It’s So Risky to Move Your Art
Paul Villinski’s sculptures, made from reclaimed items he finds perusing the streets of New York, combine intricate design with large-scale works. They’re striking, visually alluring works are hard to miss and harder to forget. It’s little wonder, then, that the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Virginia, is hosting an exhibition featuring the artist’s works. But in June, something happened on the road from Villinski’s New York City studio to Roanoke.
Why Isn’t Anyone Talking About This $30 Million Italian Art Heist?
Last April, two highly valuable paintings by a pair of the world’s best known artists, Rembrandt and Renoir, were reportedly stolen just outside of Milan, in Monza, Italy. The works were said to be worth nearly $30 million. But there’s something more missing here than just the paintings themselves. The English language news of the theft was reported in the West via an unlikely source: Turkey’s Daily Sabah, which dedicated a mere 150 words to the story.
What they're reading: Joe Ide
In Joe Ide's debut mystery, IQ, an unlicensed private investigator in a tough Los Angeles neighborhood brings justice to cases the LAPD won't touch. Our reviewer says simply, "Ide is the real deal, and IQ is the best debut I’ve read this year." (Read the full review here.) We asked Ide, who grew up in South Central LA, to tell us about three books he's been reading lately. The Art of the Con by Anthony M. Amore As a crime writer, I’m always interested in criminal expertise, and Anthony M.
AMORE: A VIABLE SOLUTION TO LONG LINES AT THE AIRPORT
Once again, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has come under fire for outrageous wait times at airport screening checkpoints across the country. A recent video shot at Chicago’s Midway Airport showing a ninety-minute long line snaking up and down stairs and across the terminal has gone viral.
"To Catch A Thief (Or A Klutz) � Anthony Amore On Art Security"
"To Catch A Thief (Or A Klutz) � Anthony Amore On Art Security" A Security Mom Podcast Media Feature, WGBH News February 11, 2016 Authors: Juliette Kayyem, Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School, Anthony Amore Belfer Center Programs or Projects: International Security ABSTRACTWhat can art security teach us about value, life, and taking kids to museums? Anthony M.
A most brilliant art world con: A near-perfect scheme, barely unraveled, straight from Hollywood
Without question, attempting to pass off a counterfeit Rembrandt was an incredibly brazen move on Ely Sakhai’s part. But brazen he was, and he did have a certain advantage in his scheme: the legitimate ownership of the authentic painting that he had his artists copy. The authenticity of his Rembrandt, The Apostle James, was not questioned. Nor was the fact that it was purchased by Ely Sakhai from a reputable source.
Amore: Terror and DoubleSpeak
In 1992, a Kuwaiti citizen by the name of Abdul BasitMahmoud Abdul Karim flew into JFK Airport in New York with an associate by the name of Ahmed Ajaj. They separated in the immigration inspections area and were checked out by different officials from the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (today known as Customs and Border Protection). Inspectors found that Ajaj was in possession of very troubling documents outlining bomb-making methods.
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