2019年经济学人 易北河上的瞒天过海--德累斯顿绿穹珍宝馆被盗(2)（在线收听）

Rocketing art prices are attracting evermore daring criminals. On November 13th intruders were walking out of the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London with two Rembrandts when they were stopped by police; they managed to escape, albeit without the paintings. Four men are currently on trial for the theft in 2017 of a giant gold coin valued at 3.75m euros ($4.1m) from the Bode Museum in Berlin.

飞涨的艺术品价格吸引了越来越多胆大妄为的罪犯。11月13日，闯入者带着两幅伦勃朗的画走出伦敦的达利奇画廊时被警察拦住了；尽管画没有偷成，他们还是设法逃走了。四名男子目前因2017年从柏林博德博物馆盗走一枚价值375万欧元(合410万美元)的巨型金币而受审。

Even so, the Dresden heist—now being investigated by a 20-strong team of specialists code-named “Epaulette”—stands out. The late Martin Roth, a former director of the Dresden State Art Collections (of which the jewellery hoard is a part), claimed in 2010 that “the Green Vault is secured like Fort Knox”. Roth thought “the human factor” and “insider knowledge” posed the greatest risk, and the Green Vault’s staff will doubtless be questioned closely. On the other hand, points out Julian Radcliffe of the Art Loss Register, an art-database in London, crooks can often pick up ample intelligence as paying visitors.

即便如此，德累斯顿的这起抢劫案仍然引人注目，这起抢劫案目前正由一个代号为“肩章”的20多名专家组成的团队进行调查。已故的德累斯顿国家艺术收藏馆前馆长马丁?罗斯曾在2010年宣称，“绿穹珍宝馆像诺克斯堡一样安全”。罗斯认为“人为因素”和“内部信息”构成了最大的风险，绿穹珍宝馆的工作人员无疑会受到严密的质疑。另一方面，朱利安·拉德克利夫指出，伦敦的一个艺术数据库——“艺术损失记录”的工作人员，骗子们经常可以作为付费游客获取足够的情报。

The artefacts are as storied as they are valuable. They survived the devastating Allied bombing of Dresden during the second world war, only to be seized by the Soviet Union. They were miraculously returned in their entirety to East Germany, contributing to the city’s resurgence, though the full trove has been on display only since 2006, after the painstaking restoration of Dresden Castle. The fear now is that, since the pieces are too recognisable to be sold intact, the robbers will break out the diamonds and sapphires to flog them separately. The coin stolen from the Bode Museum is widely assumed to have been melted and sold off. The loss of the Dresden jewellery would be much sadder. 

这些人工制品不仅有价值，而且很有传奇色彩。二战期间，盟军对德累斯顿进行了毁灭性的轰炸，他们幸免于难，但最终被苏联占领。它们被奇迹般地全部归还给了东德，为这座城市的复兴做出了贡献，尽管全部宝藏直到2006年德累斯顿城堡艰苦修复后才得以展示。现在的担心是，由于这些碎片太容易辨认而不能完整地出售，抢劫者会将钻石和蓝宝石分开出售。人们普遍认为，博德博物馆被盗的硬币已经被熔化并卖掉了。失去德累斯顿的珠宝会令人更加伤心。