Art Theft Recovery: From Sting Operations to Trash Cans

Unaware that it was valued at $350,000, the homeowner had given the crystal ball to his maid.

“So, this piece is sitting on her dresser and it's got her boyfriend's baseball cap on it you know. I asked her, I said, ‘Why-why'd you put a baseball cap on it?’ She said, ‘Well because the sun would hit it and it was acting like a magnifying glass and would shoot the rays and create little fires,’" he said.

The FBI believed both pieces were likely stolen by frat boys pulling a prank.

Replacing the Real With a Fake

Sofia Imber Contemporary Art Museum

The original painting by Henri Matisse titled "Odalisque in Pants," left, is seen next to a fake version, that was on display in the Sofia Imber Contemporary Art Museum of Caracas, Venezuela. The museum bought it in 1981.

In the case of the Matisse painting recovered by FBI agents in Miami, thieves had stolen it from the Caracas museum by replacing the original with a forgery. Wittman said that happened quite often, but finding a buyer for such high-profile pieces was difficult for two reasons.

First, it's a huge risk to buy and display a painting that was known to be stolen.

Secondly, even if an original painting is stolen and swapped out with a forgery and museum officials did not realize it, “Who’s going to go out and buy a painting that should be hanging in a museum? People will think you bought the fake. How are you going to prove yours is real?” Wittman said.

Case in point is the Matisse painting. It took nearly a decade to surface, and nobody made any money on it.

So who usually ends up buying high-profile stolen art?

“That’s easy,” Wittman said, “the FBI and other law enforcement.”

Watch “Crime Inc.: Art for the Taking” at 9P ET/PT tonight on CNBC.