The Stephen Shih Rodin Theft
The armed robbery that exposed how vulnerable museums could be
Image: Wikimedia Commons (public domain)
On Thanksgiving Day 1988, Stephen Shih walked into Philadelphia's Rodin Museum with a handgun, handcuffed three guards, fired a warning shot, and strolled out with Rodin's 'Mask of the Man with the Broken Nose'. It was recovered four months later near a basement furnace.
On Thanksgiving Day in 1988, visitors to Philadelphia's Rodin Museum expected a quiet afternoon among the sculptures of Auguste Rodin. Instead, they witnessed one of the boldest museum thefts in the city's history. Twenty-four-year-old Stephen Shih entered the museum armed with a handgun and targeted one of Rodin's most recognizable early works, 'Mask of the Man with the Broken Nose'. Rather than relying on stealth, Shih confronted the guards directly — handcuffing three of them, firing a shot into a wall to prove he would use the weapon, and calmly walking out carrying the bronze, valued at roughly $75,000 at the time.
The robbery drew immediate national attention. An armed daylight theft from a major museum was virtually unheard of, particularly for a sculpture that was instantly recognizable and almost impossible to sell through legitimate channels.
The break in the case came months later. Investigators showed FBI surveillance photographs to the museum's guards, who identified Shih as the robber, leading to his arrest in March 1989. When police searched property connected to his family, they found the missing Rodin wrapped in paper and a tarp near a basement furnace in an apartment building owned by his mother, and recovered a .25-caliber handgun believed to have been used in the robbery. Authorities believed Shih had hoped to sell the sculpture on the black market, though no serious buyer ever emerged; police noted his girlfriend attended the Moore College of Art and speculated the connection may have sparked his interest in stealing an artwork rather than more conventional valuables.
Unlike many famous art thefts, the Rodin never disappeared into the international underworld. It spent only a few months hidden in Philadelphia before being recovered intact. The theft nevertheless served as a lesson for museums: it showed that determined thieves did not always rely on elaborate heists or sophisticated networks. Sometimes a handgun, a few handcuffs, and surprisingly weak security were enough to remove a major work of art in broad daylight.
Today the Stephen Shih case is remembered less for its financial value than for its sheer audacity — a reminder that even celebrated museums can become crime scenes in a matter of minutes.