Boston museum hikes reward to $10M for artwork taken in '90 heist

May 24 (UPI) -- Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum announced it is doubling its reward to $10 million for the return of 13 pieces of art stolen in a 1990 heist.

"We want our paintings back now," museum security director Anthony Amore told the Boston Globe. "To my knowledge, the $5 million reward is the nation's largest private reward. Doubling it to $10 million is a testament to our commitment to bringing these pieces home to their rightful place."

The increased reward comes with a deadline, Dec. 31, and the announcement Tuesday was made the day after the U.S. Justice Department announced the arrest of a man, on wire fraud charges, who offered two of the paintings for sale on the Internet, although he was not in possession of either of them.

"These works of art were purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner for the 'education and enjoyment of the public forever,'" said museum board president Steve Kidder. "It is our fervent hope that by increasing the reward, our resolve is clear that we want the safe return of the works to their rightful place and back in public view."

The heist occurred on March 18, 1990, when two men dressed as police officers arrived at the museum, allegedly to investigate a disturbance. After they were allowed entry, they tied up two on-duty security guards and spent 90 minutes removing 13 pieces, valued at the time at $500 million, from the museum. Among the artworks taken were paintings by Vermeer and Rembrandt, drawings by Degas and a bronze eagle finial atop a Napoleonic flag. None of the artwork has been recovered, and no one has been charged in the theft. The museum increased its initial $1 million reward to $5 million in 1997.

Four years ago, the FBI announced it was confident the agency knew the identities of the two people involved. Each has since died, investigators said.