[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2241971037.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
To receive\u00a0Morning Links\u00a0in your inbox every weekday,\u00a0sign\u00a0up\u00a0for our\u00a0<\/em>Breakfast with ARTnews\u00a0newsletter<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n\tGood morning!<\/p>\n GOAL DIGGER. Diego Maradona<\/strong>\u2019s infamous \u201cHand of God<\/strong>\u201d soccer ball has sold for \u00a32.5 million ($3.4 million) at auction, 40 years after the Argentina captain used it to score one of soccer\u2019s most controversial goals against England at the\u00a01986 World Cup<\/strong>.\u00a0The Independent\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>reported that the\u00a0Adidas Azteca<\/strong>\u00a0ball was collected by Tunisian referee\u00a0Ali Bin Nasser\u00a0<\/strong>after the match and kept for more than three decades. Bin Nasser first sold it at auction in 2022 for \u00a31.74 million ($2.4 million), but a later attempt to resell it failed. The latest sale at\u00a0Heritage Auctions\u00a0<\/strong>reached $3.3 million, far below the estimated $10 million it might have commanded.<\/p>\n ESTONIA UNITED<\/strong>. After scammers stole nearly \u20ac700,000 ($816,600) from\u00a0Estonia\u2019s Artists\u2019 Association (EKL)<\/strong>, artists have donated 124 works to an emergency fundraising auction aimed at helping the organization recover from the fraud,\u00a0UA News<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0wrote. The association said the money was lost after criminals impersonated its leadership and manipulated financial transactions. In response, Estonian artists have stepped in, donating paintings, prints, sculptures and other works for the sale. The auction is intended to raise money quickly and help stabilize the association after the theft. The campaign has also highlighted the solidarity of Estonia\u2019s art community, with artists rallying around an institution facing an unusually severe financial crisis caused by the scam.<\/p>\n \n\tA\u00a0human tooth<\/strong>\u00a0misidentified as a bead sat on a museum shelf for nearly 20 years before archaeologists realized it was a 6,500-year-old piece of jewelry. [Phys Org]<\/p>\n A campaign is calling for British artist\u00a0Ernest Townsend<\/strong>, who helped camouflage a\u00a0Rolls-Royce<\/strong>\u00a0aircraft factory during\u00a0World War II<\/strong>, to be honored with a plaque. [Derbyshire Live]<\/p>\n Canada\u2019s\u00a0Indigenous Art Center<\/strong>\u00a0says 111 works from its federal collection of more than 5,000 Indigenous artworks are currently unaccounted for. [The Art Newspaper]<\/p>\n Europol<\/strong>\u00a0has warned that museum heists across Europe are becoming more violent, with thieves increasingly targeting high-value treasures including precious metals, gemstones, and cultural artifacts. [Insight EU Monitoring]<\/p>\n ROYAL RETURN.<\/strong>\u00a0Prince Harry<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Meghan Markle<\/strong>\u2019s wax doubles have already \u201creturned\u201d to the UK, as\u00a0Madame Tussauds London<\/strong>, the famous waxworks museum, marked news that the Sussexes are relocating with a tongue-in-cheek display featuring their figures carrying suitcases. People reported that the couple are expected to move to Britain this month, with their children, Archie and Lilibet, due to start school there in September. They will live in a non-royal residence while retaining their California home and US-based businesses.\u00a0King Charles<\/strong>\u00a0reportedly welcomes seeing more of his son and grandchildren privately, but the couple will remain non-working royals, with no change to their status.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/europol-museum-heist-warning-morning-links-august-24-2026-1234795601\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2241971037.jpg?w=1024″] To receive\u00a0Morning Links\u00a0in your inbox every weekday,\u00a0sign\u00a0up\u00a0for our\u00a0Breakfast with ARTnews\u00a0newsletter. Good morning! Diego Maradona\u2019s infamous \u201cHand of God\u201d soccer ball has sold for \u00a32.5 million ($3.4 million) at auction. After scammers stole nearly \u20ac700,000 ($816,600) from Estonia\u2019s Artists\u2019 Association, artists donated 124 works to an emergency auction. Canada\u2019s Indigenous Art Center says […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2109765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2109765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2109765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2109765\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2109765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2109765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2109765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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