Will a $10-million reward solve the world's biggest art heist?

Last month, the board of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston issued a statement that they would double the longstanding reward for the

return of artworks stolen from their premises back in 1990. They are now offering a cool $10 million, but with a time limit: the deal is only good until Dec. 31.

This is the latest chapter in an epic saga of the biggest art theft in peacetime history. Thirteen artworks, valued at between $300-500 million (if sold legitimately on the open market) were lifted from the museum during an 81-minute window in the night after the St. Patrick's Day revels, in 1990.

Earlier Artwork

But while this reward doubling has made headlines, it is an act more of frustration and desperation than a sign of impending solution.

When the original $5 million reward was set, it stirred up many leads, almost all of them dead ends. Myriad theories have swirled around who was behind this crime, for surely it was some larger organized crime group, more elaborate than just the two thieves disguised as policemen who bluffed their way into the museum, tricking student security staff into opening the door without first checking with the police department.