£40m salt cellar thief is caught by a cocky text

The thief who made off with one of Benvenuto Cellini’s most valuable artworks got a trifle arrogant. He sent his police pursuers a text message: “Thank you for your efforts. We will get back to you shortly.”



It was enough to trace Robert Mang’s telephone, and yesterday the man known as a “gentleman thief” received four years in jail for stealing the 16th-century golden salt cellar sculpted by the Italian master. Known as the Saliera, it is the only fully authenticated work in gold by Cellini and is valued at about £40 million.

Tears flowed from Mang’s eyes as sentence was pronounced by Judge Walter Stockhammer. But that did not stop almost a hundred women from surging towards the convicted art thief from the public gallery of the Vienna court.

Mang, 51, the owner of a security company, has become a celebrity in Austria. More than a thousand women have sent him letters in prison, many enclosing photographs of themselves in bikinis, and fan websites have been set up.

This popularity is partly down to his bronzed good looks and smooth playboy manners, but mainly it is admiration for his audacity.