If you buy stolen goods, they aren’t yours.
This applies even if you didn’t know they were stolen, i.e. you’re what the law terms an “innocent” or “good faith” purchaser.
Museums and collectors who buy stolen artworks must return them to the rightful owners. So buyer beware; that’s one reason why they should hire an expert to trace the object’s provenance.
But it applies to ordinary items, too. Let’s say you buy a car from a stranger who doesn’t have a title (which you should never do), then take it to a state inspection station so you can title and register it. Thieves often change dashboard VIN plates, but there’s a hidden VIN number on the chassis, and if it matches a vehicle reported stolen, the inspector will impound the vehicle.
You can contest ownership, but you’ll lose; usually the legal owner is an insurance company that paid a theft-loss claim, and it will get possession of the car. Buyer beware.
Returning to artworks, a case often taught to law students involving a famous artist and stolen paintings, O’Keeffe v. Snyder, holds that “a thief cannot acquire title to a stolen chattel and cannot transfer good title to others, regardless of their good faith and ignorance of the theft” (from case summary here). Put another way, you can’t lose title (i.e. ownership) of your property through theft.
This brings me to today’s news story. Sotheby’s (profile here) is a well-known auction house and broker that sells famous artworks, but also deals in all sorts of items.
The “lot” (as auction items are called) in the photo below is a copper weathervane, over 5 feet long, that originally graced a Vermont railroad station. It was made in 1910 and stolen in 1983.
The theft was reported to a stolen artworks registry, and when it resurfaced at Sotheby’s, the state (which owns the station) reclaimed it (see story here). The story doesn’t say what it’s worth, but Sotheby’s paid $2,300 to ship it to Vermont, and the guy who had it is dead.
The moral: Buy stuff through reputable channels especially if it’s unique, has a serial number, or is otherwise identifiable. You should investigate the title history of a car anyway, so you don’t get one that’s been flood-damaged, totaled, or stolen. And that guy selling stereo gear out of a van? Probably not his, and not yours either, just because you paid for it.
Remember the lesson of the weathervane.