Will France Retrieve Its Precious Historic Jewels – Or Is It Too Late?
Police in France are making every effort to retrieve irreplaceable treasures stolen from the Paris museum in a brazen daytime heist, but experts have warned it may already be too late to get them back.
At the heart of Paris this past Sunday, burglars broke into the most popular museum globally, taking eight cherished pieces and getting away via motor scooters in a bold robbery that took about under ten minutes.
International art investigator an expert in the field expressed his view he suspects the stolen items may already be "dispersed", once separated into numerous components.
It is highly likely the stolen jewels could be sold off for a fraction of their worth and smuggled out of French territory, other experts noted.
Who May Be Behind the Robbery
The group acted professionally, Mr Brand believes, shown by the speed with which they got inside and outside of the Louvre with such efficiency.
"As you might expect, for regular people, people don't suddenly decide one day believing, I will become a burglar, and begin with the world-famous museum," he noted.
"This isn't their initial robbery," he continued. "They have done other burglaries. They feel certain and they calculated, we could succeed with this, and proceeded."
In another sign the expertise of the gang is considered significant, a specialist police unit with a "strong track record in solving high-profile robberies" has been given responsibility with finding them.
Authorities have indicated they think the heist relates to a criminal organization.
Organised crime groups such as these usually pursue two main goals, French prosecutor Laure Beccuau explained. "Either to act on behalf of a financier, or to acquire precious stones to carry out money laundering operations."
The expert believes it is highly unlikely to market the jewels as complete pieces, and he explained targeted robbery for a private collector is something that mainly exists in movies.
"Nobody wants to touch an item so hot," he explained. "You cannot show it publicly, it cannot be passed to your children, you cannot sell it."
Estimated £10m Worth
Mr Brand believes the artifacts will be taken apart and separated, along with gold elements and silver melted down and the jewels divided into smaller stones that will be extremely difficult to connect to the Paris heist.
Historical jewelry specialist Carol Woolton, creator of the digital series focusing on gemstones and formerly worked as the famous fashion magazine's gemstone expert for two decades, explained the robbers had "carefully selected" the most significant gemstones from the institution's artifacts.
The "beautiful large flawless stones" would likely be dug out from the jewelry pieces and marketed, she explained, except for the headpiece of the French empress which has smaller stones incorporated within it and was "too dangerous to possess," she added.
This potentially clarifies why it was dropped during the escape, in addition to another piece, and located by officials.
The imperial headpiece which was stolen, contains extremely rare authentic pearls which have a very large value, experts say.
Even though the pieces have been described as being priceless, Ms Woolton believes they will be disposed of for a small percentage of their value.
"They'll likely end up to buyers who are prepared to handle these," she stated. "Many people will seek for these items – the thieves will accept any amount available."
What specific amount could they fetch as payment upon being marketed? When asked about the potential value of the haul, Mr Brand indicated the cut-up parts could be worth "many millions."
The jewels and taken gold may bring up to £10 million (over eleven million euros; $13.4m), says a jewelry specialist, senior official of 77 Diamonds, a digital jewelry retailer.
He told the BBC the perpetrators must have an experienced professional to separate the jewels, and a skilled stone worker to change the larger recognisable stones.
Minor components that couldn't be easily recognized would be disposed of immediately and while it was hard to estimate the precise value of all the stones removed, the bigger stones may amount to about a significant amount for individual pieces, he explained.
"We know there are no fewer than four comparable in size, thus totaling all of those up plus the gold components, it's likely reaching £10m," he concluded.
"The gemstone and gemstone market is liquid and numerous purchasers exist within gray markets that won't inquire regarding sources."
There are hopes that the artifacts could reappear intact one day – but those hopes are diminishing over time.
Similar cases have occurred – the Cartier exhibition at the cultural institution displays an artifact taken decades ago that later resurfaced in a public event much later.
Definitely are numerous French citizens are deeply shocked about the museum robbery, demonstrating a cultural bond with the artifacts.
"There isn't always like jewellery since it represents an issue of authority, and that doesn't necessarily have a good connotation among French people," a heritage expert, director of historical collections at established French company Maison Vever, stated