Louvre thieves will wrestle to promote stolen jewels, grasp jeweler says: “The entire world is aware of about this theft”

The thieves who made off with priceless treasure from the Louvre might have a tough time cashing in.

The French authorities valued the pieces — which embrace an beautiful tiara and a sapphire necklace worn by French royalty — at about $102 million. However Stephen Portier, grasp jeweler and Parisian gem appraiser, says that is provided that they’re intact. 

If the thieves prise the jewels out of their settings to promote on the black market, they are going to be value a lot much less, Portier mentioned. 

“Taken aside and offered as stones and steel, their worth drops by 90%,” he mentioned.

Like many jewellery professionals, Portier nurses a sliver of hope that the police will catch the robbers and recover the historic pieces undamaged. However he is aware of the chances are slim. With a lot consideration on the items, they are going to be too arduous to promote as-is. They will even be extremely unlawful to purchase. 

“The marketplace for tremendous jewellery is huge,” he mentioned. “However the community is small. All people is aware of all people on this planet of valuable stone.”

“The entire world is aware of about this theft. Sellers can have footage of each single piece up of their places of work,” he continued. “So in the event that they assume they’re being supplied diamonds from the Louvre … They’ll ask some arduous questions. And get in touch with the police.”

The Louvre is prone to have minute descriptions of the valuable stones within the treasures that had been taken within the brazen heist, which noticed the thieves enter by way of a window and smash antique glass cases earlier than escaping with the treasure. The thieves took 9 items, however dropped the crown of Empress Eugenie as they made their escape.

Every stone within the stolen items has “distinctive properties,” like their weight, shade and tiny impurities, Portier mentioned. These descriptors “are just like the stones’ DNA.” 

A few of the items, notably a brooch within the form of a bow with elaborate tassels, include a whole bunch of tiny diamonds. Even these smaller stones might be arduous for the thieves to fence.

They’re at the very least a century and a half previous, lower in a particular old style fashion. Prison specialists may strive re-cutting them to disguise them, says Portier, however that might make them even smaller and far much less priceless.

Among the many stolen objects is an beautiful diamond and pearl tiara. 

“Previous pearls, particularly massive ones, are simple to determine by their form and shade,” mentioned Portier.

Theoretically, it’s attainable to make the massive pearls in it unrecognizable with a dangerous course of generally known as peeling, Portier mentioned.

“You want a solvent like fragrance, or hairspray. They dissolve the floor of the pearl and conceal the minute cracks of age,” Portier defined. “However it’s a harmful recreation, as a result of it could possibly expose the layer under which can be an unattractive shade and so the pearl instantly turns into a lot much less priceless.”

Provided that eliminating the jewels might be troublesome, and never massively worthwhile, why did the thieves commit such a dangerous crime?

“Good query,” Portier mentioned. “Good query.”