Eduardo de Valfierno, who posed as a marqués (marquis), was supposedly an Argentine con man who allegedly masterminded the theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911. There are serious doubts as to whether or not he existed. Theft of the Mona Lisa In 1932, journalist Karl Decker published a story in the Saturday Evening Post claiming Valfierno paid several men to steal the work of art from the Louvre, including museum employee Vincenzo Peruggia. On August 21, 1911 Peruggia hid the Mona Lisa under his coat and simply walked out the door. Before the heist took place, Valfierno allegedly commissioned French art restorer and forger Yves Chaudron to make six copies of the Mona Lisa. The forgeries were then shipped to around the world, readying them for the buyers he had lined up. Valfierno knew once the Mona Lisa was stolen it would be harder to smuggle copies past customs. After the heist the copies were delivered to their buyers, each thinking they had the original which had been stolen for them. Because Valfierno wanted to sell forgeries, he only needed the original Mona Lisa to disappear and never contacted Peruggia again after the crime. Eventually Peruggia was caught trying to sell the painting. It was returned to the Louvre in 1913. Peruggia denied he ever knew Valfierno other than a chance meeting at the Louvre. Decker's article is the only source for this story or even for the existence of Valfierno and Chaudron. He was famous for taking liberties with his articles, and many of the facts and details he provides in the article are incorrect, including the size and weight of the Mona Lisa and the type of wood it was painted on. That and the fact that a century later none of the alleged copies have been found casts serious doubts on the accuracy of the story and the existence of Eduardo de Valfierno. In fiction The notion of stealing the Mona Lisa and making six copies to sell to private collectors is similar to a plot element in the Doctor Who story "City of Death": Through time travel, Leonardo da Vinci is forced to make copies of his own work, which would then be sold in 1979. In the 1985 television series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes starring Jeremy Brett, "The Final Problem" episode begins with the theft of the Mona Lisa, masterminded by Moriarty to