After the brazen theft of eight 19th century jewelry from the Louvre, Reader’s Digest put together a list of the 12 most expensive things ever stolen (of which the aforementioned robbery headlines):
12 of the Most Expensive Things That Have Ever Been Stolen [Reader’s Digest] – “In 2005, a Vietnamese copper bell was stolen from a Buddhist monastery in Tacoma, Washington. The police believe that the thief just came in with a forklift and stole it while the monks were deep in meditation. The bell was recovered three years later, when the particularly dumb criminal allowed the storage unit that housed it (and tons of other stolen goods) to get sold at auction. Naturally, the thief tried to reclaim the priceless bell for a measly $500.”