BRONZE SCULPTURES, INCLUDING RODIN, STOLEN FROM DUTCH MUSEUM

Thieves have stolen seven bronze sculptures, including a cast of Auguste Rodin’s The Thinker, from a Dutch museum’s garden, reports Bloomberg‘s Martijn van der Starre. The crime may be connected with recent bronze thefts, as the iron sculptures weren’t touched, Dutch police said. The police asked smelters and foundries “to keep their ears and eyes open.” The statues are worth “hundreds of thousands” of euros, said Lucas Bonekamp, a spokesman for the Netherlands-based Singer Laren museum. “It would be extremely bad” if the artworks were stolen to be melted down, Bonekamp said. “The sculptures are worth far more as pieces of art. It’s a big loss for Dutch heritage.”