Can France Retrieve Its Invaluable Crown Jewels – Or Is It Too Late?

Law enforcement in France are urgently trying to retrieve irreplaceable jewels stolen from the Louvre in a audacious daytime heist, but experts caution it might be too late to recover them.

At the heart of Paris over the weekend, thieves entered by force the world's most-visited museum, making off with eight valued items then fleeing via motor scooters in a daring heist that was completed in under ten minutes.

International art investigator a renowned specialist told the BBC he believes the jewels could be "already dismantled", after being taken apart into numerous components.

Experts suggest the artifacts may be disposed of for a small part of their true price and smuggled out of the country, several authorities indicated.

Potential Suspects Behind the Theft

The group were professionals, as the detective stated, shown by the way they managed inside and outside of the museum in record time.

"As you might expect, as a normal person, people don't suddenly decide one day believing, I'm going to become a thief, choosing as first target the Louvre Museum," he noted.

"This isn't their initial robbery," he added. "They've carried out other burglaries. They feel certain and they thought, it might work out with this, and went for it."

Additionally demonstrating the expertise of the group is treated as important, an elite police team with a "strong track record in cracking high-profile robberies" has been given responsibility with locating the perpetrators.

Law enforcement have said they think the theft is linked to an organised crime network.

Sophisticated gangs of this type generally have two objectives, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau stated. "Either they operate for the benefit of a client, or to obtain precious stones to carry out financial crimes."

Mr Brand thinks it is highly unlikely to sell the items intact, and he explained commissioned theft for an individual buyer is a scenario that mainly exists in fictional stories.

"Few people wish to acquire a piece so hot," he explained. "You can't display it to your friends, it cannot be passed to family, it cannot be sold."

Potential £10m Price Tag

Mr Brand believes the stolen items will be taken apart and separated, including the gold and silver components melted and the gems divided into smaller components that could be virtually impossible to track back to the museum theft.

Historical jewelry specialist a renowned expert, creator of the podcast If Jewels Could Talk and formerly worked as Vogue magazine's jewelry specialist for 20 years, stated the perpetrators had "carefully selected" the most significant treasures from the museum's holdings.

The "magnificent flawless stones" would likely be extracted of their mountings and sold, she explained, with the exception of the crown from Empress Eugénie which contains smaller gems set in it and was considered "too hot to handle," she added.

This might account for the reason it was abandoned during the escape, together with another piece, and located by officials.

The royal crown that disappeared, has rare authentic pearls which have a very large value, experts say.

Although the artifacts have been described as having immeasurable worth, Ms Woolton anticipates they to be sold for a small percentage of their value.

"They'll likely end up to individuals who are prepared to handle these," she stated. "Authorities worldwide will search for the stolen goods – they'll settle for any amount available."

The precise value would they generate in money if sold on? Concerning the estimated price of the haul, the detective said the cut-up parts could be worth "several million."

The gems and taken gold might achieve up to ten million pounds (€11.52m; thirteen million dollars), according to Tobias Kormind, senior official of an established company, an internet-based gem dealer.

He stated the perpetrators must have a skilled expert to extract the stones, and a professional diamond cutter to modify the bigger identifiable gems.

Minor components that were not easily identifiable might be marketed immediately and while it was hard to tell the exact price of each piece taken, the more significant gems may amount to around a significant amount per stone, he said.

"There are a minimum of four that large, thus totaling all of those along with the precious metal, one could estimate reaching £10m," he concluded.

"The diamond and gemstone market has buyers and numerous purchasers exist within gray markets that don't ask regarding sources."

There are hopes that the artifacts might resurface undamaged in the future – but those hopes are diminishing as the days pass.

Historical examples exist – a jewelry display at the V&A Museum includes an item of jewellery taken decades ago before reappearing in a sale many years after.

Definitely are numerous French citizens feel profoundly disturbed regarding the theft, expressing an emotional attachment toward the treasures.

"We don't necessarily value gems because it's a question of authority, and which doesn't always have a good connotation among French people," a jewelry authority, director of historical collections at Parisian jewelry house the historical business, said