The Louvre has reportedly transferred some of its most precious jewels to the Bank of France, according to French radio RTL.
The move follows a brazen heist last week in which thieves wielding powers tools broke into the world’s most visited museum.
The gang took France’s priceless crown jewels in broad daylight – and exposed the museum’s security weaknesses.
A preliminary report has revealed that one in three rooms in the area of the museum which was raided had no CCTV cameras, according to French media.
On Friday, some precious items were moved out of the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery under secret police escort.
The Bank of France, which stores the country’s gold reserves in a massive vault below ground, is just 500 metres from the Louvre.
The Louvre and the Bank of France did not immediately respond to request for comment.
How did the heist go down?
On October 19 at around 09:30 local time, shortly after the museum opened, the gang arrived with a vehicle-mounted mechanical lift to gain access to the Galerie d’Apollon (Gallery of Apollo).
Two thieves got through a first-floor window using battery-powered disc cutters and then threatened security guards, who left the premises.
The burglars then broke into display cases and took nine diamond and gemstone-encrusted items, all dating from France’s 19th century royalty.
A crown was found near the scene, damaged, suggesting it was dropped as the thieves made their getaway.
The gang apparently left behind the vehicle-mounted extendable ladder leading to the window.
France’s culture ministry said they tried to set fire to the vehicle before they left but they were stopped by a member of museum staff.
Nobody was injured in the incident but the museum was evacuated and remained closed on Sunday.
What was stolen?
The French authorities say eight items were taken, including a brooch once belonging to the wife of Napoleon III, Empress Eugénie, an emerald neckalce and pair of emerald earrings from Empress Marie Louise, and a tiara, necklace and single earring from the sapphire set that belonged to Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense.
A brooch known as the ‘reliquary brooch’ was also snatched.
These pieces feature thousands of diamonds and other precious gemstones between them.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the stolen jewels were ‘priceless’ and of ‘immeasurable heritage value’.
Where might the jewels end up?
Experts say the thieves may have taken jewel-encrusted items – estimated to be worth more than $100 million, or €88 million – because the gemstones keep their value, even if they have been removed from the items.
Crowns and diadems can be easily broken apart and sold in smaller parts and valuable metal from the items can be melted down, while valuable stones can be recut and sold. It would be incredibly difficult to find a market to sell the full pieces without risking getting caught.
Some experts have said that the jewels may still be identifiable by their clarity and that the gold that was refined when the pieces were made hundreds of years ago is not as pure as what is typically in demand today.
Scott Guginsky, executive vice president of the Jewelers’ Security Alliance, a nonprofit trade association focused on preventing jewelry crime, told AP News: ‘It’s not something that you can move on the open market. It’s nothing that can go through an auction house.’
Others have warned that, if done successfully, pieces of the stolen artefacts could later go up for sale as part of a new necklace, earrings or jewellery without turning too many heads.
Christopher Marinello, a lawyer and founder of Art Recovery International, told AP News: ‘By breaking them apart, they will hide their theft,’ adding that they would become even more ‘traceless’ if they are shipped out of France and through jewel cutters and robust supply chains in other countries.
Erin Thompson, an art crime professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, told AP News: ‘You don’t even have to put them on a black market, you just put them in a jewellery store.
‘It could be sold down the street from the Louvre.’
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