Is France Able to Get Back Its Invaluable Royal Gems – Or Is It Too Late?

Law enforcement in France are making every effort to locate priceless gemstones stolen from the Paris museum in a daring broad daylight theft, but experts are concerned it might be too late to save them.

At the heart of Paris on Sunday, burglars gained access to the world's most-visited museum, stealing eight precious artifacts before escaping via motor scooters in a audacious theft that lasted approximately just minutes.

International art investigator a renowned specialist expressed his view he feared the artifacts could be "long gone", once separated into hundreds of parts.

Experts suggest the pieces may be disposed of for a mere percentage of their value and illegally transported from France, additional specialists noted.

Who May Be Behind the Theft

The perpetrators acted professionally, Mr Brand believes, as demonstrated by the way they managed through the museum of the Louvre with such efficiency.

"Realistically speaking, as a normal person, people don't suddenly decide one day believing, I'm going to become a burglar, let's start with the world-famous museum," he explained.

"This won't be the first time they've done this," he said. "They have done previous crimes. They are confident and they believed, it might work out with this, and took the chance."

As further evidence the professionalism of the gang is being taken seriously, a dedicated task force with a "high success rate in solving high-profile robberies" has been tasked with finding them.

Law enforcement have indicated they think the robbery is connected to a criminal organization.

Sophisticated gangs such as these generally have two objectives, legal official a senior official stated. "Either they operate for the benefit of a financier, or to acquire valuable gems to perform financial crimes."

The detective suggests it is impossible to dispose of the artifacts as complete pieces, and he noted targeted robbery for a specific client is a scenario that mainly exists in movies.

"Few people wish to handle an item so hot," he explained. "It cannot be shown publicly, it cannot be passed to heirs, there's no market for it."

Estimated £10m Value

The detective suggests the stolen items are likely broken down and broken up, including the gold and silver melted down and the precious stones cut up into less recognizable pieces that could be nearly impossible to trace back to the museum theft.

Historical jewelry specialist Carol Woolton, creator of the podcast about historical jewelry and previously served as the famous fashion magazine's jewelry specialist for many years, explained the perpetrators had "cherry-picked" the most valuable gemstones from the museum's holdings.

The "beautiful large exquisite jewels" are expected to be removed of their mountings and sold, she noted, with the exception of the headpiece of the French empress which has smaller stones mounted in it and was considered "too dangerous to keep," she continued.

This could explain why it was dropped as they got away, in addition to one other item, and found by authorities.

The imperial headpiece which was stolen, contains extremely rare natural pearls which are incredibly valuable, authorities indicate.

Although the artifacts are considered being priceless, the expert anticipates they to be sold for a small percentage of their value.

"They'll likely end up to someone who are prepared to acquire such items," she said. "Authorities worldwide will search for these – they will take whatever price is offered."

The precise value could they fetch as payment if sold on? Concerning the potential value of the stolen goods, Mr Brand said the separated elements could be worth "multiple millions."

The jewels and removed precious metal may bring up to ten million pounds (millions in euros; $13.4m), stated by a jewelry specialist, senior official of an established company, a digital jewelry retailer.

He stated the gang must have a trained specialist to remove the gems, and an expert gem cutter to alter the more noticeable pieces.

Smaller stones that were not easily identifiable would be disposed of immediately and while it was hard to estimate the precise value of all the stones removed, the more significant gems may amount to around half a million pounds per stone, he said.

"There are no fewer than four that large, thus totaling all those pieces up plus the gold components, one could estimate coming close to the estimated figure," he said.

"The jewelry and gemstone market has buyers and plenty of customers operate within gray markets that won't inquire about origins."

Hope persists that the artifacts may be found intact one day – yet this possibility are fading with each passing day.

Similar cases have occurred – the Cartier exhibition at the London museum features a piece of jewelry taken decades ago that later resurfaced in an auction much later.

Definitely includes the French public are extremely upset regarding the theft, having felt an emotional attachment with the artifacts.

"There isn't always like jewellery as it symbolizes an issue of authority, and which doesn't always carry positive associations among French people," a heritage expert, director of historical collections at established French company Maison Vever, stated