Convicted
1671 · United Kingdom
Colonel Blood
In 1671 Thomas Blood flattened King Charles II's crown with a mallet and ran for the Tower gate. He was caught, then pardoned and given an Irish estate.
Kind of crime
Heists & thefts
Stolen paintings, crown jewels, pearls and gold: the great thefts and what became of the loot.
7 cases5 solved2 unsolved1671–1934
Convicted
Convicted
1855–1857 · United Kingdom
Great Gold Robbery of 1855
In May 1855 four men emptied the bullion safes on the London-to-Folkestone night train and refilled them with lead shot. Nobody noticed until Paris.
Unsolved
1907–1908 · Ireland
Irish Crown Jewels theft
Days before a royal visit in July 1907, the diamond regalia of the Order of St Patrick vanished from a safe in Dublin Castle. They have never been found.
Convicted
1911–1914 · France
Mona Lisa theft
In 1911 a glazier walked out of the Louvre with Leonardo's portrait. It was gone 28 months, and the empty wall made it the world's most famous painting.
Convicted
1913 · United Kingdom
Great Pearl Robbery of 1913
In July 1913 a Hatton Garden dealer opened a registered parcel from Paris and found sugar lumps instead of the world's most valuable pearl necklace.
Convicted
1924 · Illinois
Rondout train robbery
June 1924: the Newton brothers stop a mail train north of Chicago and take some $2 million, America's biggest train robbery. A postal inspector planned it.
Unsolved
1934 · Belgium
Ghent Altarpiece theft
In April 1934 a panel of van Eyck's Ghent Altarpiece was stolen and held to ransom. The man who seemed to know where it was died before he could say.