NEW YORK (AP) — Just days after a stunning heist at the Louvre Museum in Paris, speculation is growing about where the lavish, stolen jewels that once adorned France’s royals might end up.
A handful of experts warn that the artifacts, valued at more than $100 million (88 million euros), could soon—if not already—be melted down or broken into parts. If done successfully, some say those smaller pieces could later be sold as part of new necklaces, earrings, or other jewelry, without drawing too much attention.
“You don’t even have to put them on a black market, you just put them in a jewelry store,” said Erin Thompson, an art crime professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. “It could be sold down the street from the Louvre.”
Thompson and others say this has become increasingly common with stolen jeweled and metal goods, noting that it’s a way thieves cover their tracks while making money. It’s not like someone could publicly wear one of France’s Crown Jewels stolen on Sunday; finding a market to sell the full artifacts would be incredibly difficult after “everyone and their sister” has seen photos of them over the last week, explained Christopher Marinello, a lawyer and founder of Art Recovery International.
The jewels may be hard to monetize, Marinello said. “By breaking them apart, they will hide their theft.” He added these items could become even more “traceless” if taken out of France and processed through jewel cutters and robust supply chains in other countries.
Still, such pieces are often sold for a fraction of the value of the original items—not only due to their smaller size but also because melting or breaking down high-profile items removes their historical worth.
It isn’t a simple process. “The real art in an art heist isn’t the stealing; it’s the selling,” explained Robert Wittman, former senior investigator of the FBI’s art crime team. Wittman, who has since formed his own private practice, said that individuals behind such heists are typically “better criminals or thieves than they are businessmen.”
Unlike others, Wittman is skeptical about the Sunday thieves successfully monetizing the artifacts they stole from the Louvre, which include an emerald necklace and earrings, two crowns, two brooches, a sapphire necklace, and a single earring worn by 19th-century royals. He notes the gems may still be identifiable by their clarity, for example, and gold refined hundreds of years ago is not as pure as what’s typically in demand today.
“Because of what they are, there’s really no point destroying them,” Wittman said, pointing to the risks of selling such high-profile stolen goods.
Scott Guginsky, executive vice president of the Jewelers’ Security Alliance—a nonprofit trade association focused on preventing jewelry crime—also notes the age and quality of the artifacts’ diamonds. He suspects they’re probably not graded.
“It’s not something that you can move on the open market. It’s nothing that can go through an auction house,” said Guginsky, who formerly ran the New York Police Department’s organized theft squad.
Given the amount of preparation that the thieves likely put into the heist, Guginsky believes they have a plan for selling the jewels, even if they might first decide to “sit on” the jewelry and wait out suspicion.
“I can’t see them stealing it without having an idea what they want to do,” he said. “There’s always a person willing to buy stolen jewelry. No matter what it is, somebody will buy it.”
Sara Yood, CEO and general counsel of the Jewelers Vigilance Committee, notes that most jewelry businesses implement anti-money laundering programs and watch for red flags such as unusual orders, repeated purchases, and requests for secrecy.
Still, she and others say the age of some jewels—if broken down effectively—could actually make them harder to track. Newer gemstones sometimes carry laser inscriptions inside that can be identified in labs. But “because these are historical pieces, it’s rather unlikely that they have those identifying features,” Yood noted.
Experts like Thompson say bigger gems can be recut to the point that they become unrecognizable. The challenge is finding people skilled enough to do that who don’t ask too many questions, but it is possible.
Whether the people behind Sunday’s heist had those contacts or certain buyers lined up remains unknown. However, Thompson adds, “the guys who actually enter the museums are usually all hired hands, and they’re almost always caught in these cases.”
### Chances of Recovery Look Dim
Thompson and others say that museums have increasingly faced a rash of similar thefts in recent years. Stealing from storage can go undetected for longer—such as at the British Museum in London, which has accused a former curator of stealing artifacts and selling them online. The museum is still trying to recover some of the 2,000 items stolen.
Some past thieves have made ransom demands for stolen artwork or waited for a potential “no questions asked” reward from insurance companies, which can amount to about a 10% cut for some insured pieces in Europe, according to Thompson.
The jewels stolen from the Louvre Sunday, however, were reportedly not privately insured. Sometimes government offers of a reward for information on a high-profile heist can quicken investigations, though the French government has yet to publicize such an incentive.
If that changes, or promising leads are uncovered from evidence left behind at the Louvre, experts like Wittman note it could increase the chances of recovering the artifacts.
Still, as more time passes, others believe the fate of finding the historic jewels looks dim.
“I think they’re going to catch the criminals,” said Marinello. “But I don’t think they’ll find them with the jewels intact.”
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