Is France Able to Recover Its Precious Crown Jewels – Or Is It Too Late?
French authorities are desperate to recover extremely valuable jewels robbed from the Paris museum in a audacious daytime heist, yet authorities have warned it may already be too late to recover them.
At the heart of Paris over the weekend, robbers broke into the world's most-visited museum, making off with eight precious artifacts and getting away via motor scooters in a bold robbery that lasted approximately under ten minutes.
International art investigator a renowned specialist stated publicly he feared the artifacts may already be "dispersed", after being taken apart into many fragments.
It is highly likely the pieces may be disposed of for a mere percentage of their value and smuggled out of France, other experts noted.
Who May Be Behind the Heist
The group are experienced criminals, Mr Brand believes, evidenced by the speed with which they got through the museum of the Louvre so quickly.
"As you might expect, for an average individual, people don't suddenly decide in the morning thinking, I will become a criminal, and begin with the Louvre Museum," he said.
"This isn't their first heist," he added. "They've carried out things before. They are confident and they thought, we could succeed with this plan, and took the chance."
In another sign the skill of the group is treated as important, a dedicated task force with a "proven effectiveness in cracking high-profile robberies" has been tasked with locating the perpetrators.
Authorities have indicated they think the heist relates to a criminal organization.
Sophisticated gangs of this type usually pursue two main goals, Paris prosecutor a senior official stated. "Either to act working for a client, or to obtain precious stones to perform illegal financial activities."
Mr Brand thinks it is impossible to dispose of the artifacts as complete pieces, and he noted targeted robbery for a private collector is a scenario that only happens in fictional stories.
"Nobody wants to handle an artifact so hot," he stated. "You can't display it to acquaintances, you cannot leave it to your children, there's no market for it."
Estimated £10m Value
The expert thinks the stolen items will be taken apart and disassembled, with the gold and silver components melted and the gems cut up into smaller stones that would be nearly impossible to connect to the museum theft.
Gemstone expert an authority in the field, creator of the digital series If Jewels Could Talk and formerly worked as the famous fashion magazine's jewellery editor for two decades, explained the perpetrators had "carefully selected" the most significant jewels from the institution's artifacts.
The "magnificent exquisite jewels" will probably be dug out from the jewelry pieces and marketed, she said, except for the tiara belonging to Empress Eugénie which contains smaller gems mounted in it and was considered "too recognizable to handle," she explained.
This could explain why they left it behind as they got away, in addition to one other item, and recovered by police.
Empress Eugenie's tiara which was stolen, has rare organic pearls which are incredibly valuable, authorities indicate.
Even though the pieces are considered being beyond valuation, Ms Woolton anticipates they will be disposed of for a minimal part of their true price.
"They'll likely end up to buyers who are able to acquire such items," she explained. "Authorities worldwide will search for these items – the thieves will accept what they can get."
The precise value might they bring financially if sold on? Regarding the potential value of the stolen goods, the expert indicated the separated elements could be worth "many millions."
The jewels and gold stolen could fetch approximately £10 million (€11.52m; $13.4m), says a jewelry specialist, senior official of an established company, an online jeweller.
He stated the gang will require a trained specialist to extract the stones, and a professional diamond cutter to change the more noticeable pieces.
Less noticeable gems that were not easily identifiable would be disposed of immediately and while it was hard to determine the precise value of every gem removed, the more significant gems might value approximately a significant amount each, he explained.
"We know there are at least four comparable in size, so adding all those pieces along with the gold, you are probably approaching ten million," he said.
"The gemstone and precious stone industry is active and there are many buyers within gray markets that don't ask about origins."
There are hopes that the artifacts could reappear in original condition one day – yet this possibility are fading as the days pass.
Historical examples exist – a jewelry display at the V&A Museum includes an item of jewellery taken decades ago which eventually returned in a public event much later.
What is certain includes the French public are deeply shocked by the Louvre heist, demonstrating a cultural bond to the jewels.
"French people don't always appreciate jewelry because it's a question of power, and that doesn't necessarily have a good connotation in France," a jewelry authority, curatorial leader at French jeweller Maison Vever, explained