The Louvre heist: which high jewellery pieces once worn by French royals were stolen?
The world is in shock following a massive heist at the Louvre, which took place on Sunday and resulted in US$102 million of stolen jewellery
Laure Beccuau, the Paris prosecutor whose office is leading the investigation, said Tuesday that in monetary terms, the stolen jewellery is worth an estimated US$102 million (88 million Euros) – a valuation that doesn’t include historical worth. About 100 investigators are involved in the police hunt for the suspects and the gems, she said.
Now the sparkling jewels, artefacts of a French culture of long ago, are likely being secretly dismantled and sold off in a rush as individual pieces that may or may not be identifiable as part of the French crown jewels, experts say.
“It’s extremely unlikely these jewels will ever be retrieved and seen again,” Tobias Kormind, managing director of 77 Diamonds, a major European diamond jeweller, said in a statement. “If these gems are broken up and sold off, they will, in effect, vanish from history and be lost to the world forever.”
Taken, officials said, were eight pieces, part of a collection whose origin as crown jewels dates back to the 16th century when King Francis I decreed that they belonged to the state. The Paris prosecutor’s office said that two men with bright yellow jackets broke into the gallery at 9.34am – half an hour past opening time – and left the room at 9.38am before fleeing on two motorbikes.
What happens now is a race against time both for the French authorities hunting the thieves and for the perpetrators themselves, who will have a hard time finding buyers for the pieces in all their royal glory.
The Louvre reopened Wednesday for the first time since the heist Sunday morning, although the Apollo Gallery where the theft occurred remained closed.
Here is a list of the stolen pieces.