It seems that no bronze sculpture in the Netherlands is safe these days. Statue after statue has dissappeared because of the high value of the metal on the black market. Councillors and MPs are pushing for measures to stop the wave of pillaging.

In the last five years, the prices of copper and bronze - an alloy which contains up to 90 percent copper -have risen. So has the number of thefts. Even churchyards have been looted and war monuments stolen.

Nazi camp
Last Monday the statues of Dutch author Simon Carmiggelt and his wife Tiny were stolen in the town of Rheden; the thieves sawed them off at the ankles. A week before, a life-size bronze horse went missing. The mayor of Rheden has decided to temporarily put all bronzes in safe storage.

The site of Westerbork, a WWII Nazi transit camp for Jewish prisoners, was also recently vandalised, presumably a failed attempt by bronze thieves to steal the camp's war monument, which weighs hundreds of kilos.

In 2007, seven bronze works of art were stolen from the garden of the Singer Museum in the town of Laren, one of which was a signed cast of Rodin's Le Penseur (The thinker). Days later the sculpture was discovered abandoned, after the thieves were unable to cut it up.

Central and eastern Europe
Politicians are demanding measures against the thefts: Police should pay more attention to bronze theft, and people who offer metals to scrap merchants should be required to present ID. But both metal dealers and police agree that most stolen objects are smuggled out of the country where they end up in central and eastern European smelting ovens.

On her website gestolenkunst.nl (Stolen Art), Dutch artist Lida Dijkstra has gathered a detailed list of stolen works of art, including a considerable number of bronze objects. She occasionally receives tips from ironmongers who have been offered the sculptures. Police have asked Ms Dijkstra for help.

(rk/ae)