Where Jewels Stolen from Louvre Museum Might End Up

Days after a daring heist at Paris’s Louvre Museum, questions loom large over the fate of the stolen royal jewels worth over $100 million (88 million euros). Experts suspect the opulent artifacts — including crowns, emerald necklaces, and brooches once worn by 19th-century royals — may already be dismantled or melted down.

“It doesn’t even have to go to the black market,” said Erin Thompson, art crime professor at John Jay College in New York. “You could sell it in a jewellery store down the street from the Louvre.

By fragmenting or melting the pieces, thieves can disguise their origins, making them harder to trace. Yet, this process dramatically reduces their historical and monetary value.

“The real art in an art heist isn’t the stealing, it’s the selling,” said Robert Wittman, former FBI art-crime investigator. He doubts the culprits can profit easily: the age, purity, and craftsmanship of the jewels make them distinctive — and difficult to move without notice. Others believe the thieves have a longer game.

“I can’t see them stealing without a plan,” said Scott Guginsky of the Jewelers’ Security Alliance. “They may sit on them, wait for the heat to die down, then sell.”

Modern traceability methods like laser inscriptions are absent in older gems, says Sara Yood of the Jewelers Vigilance Committee, which could make the jewels nearly impossible to identify once altered. “Because these are historical pieces, it’s unlikely they have those identifying features,” she explained.

While ransom or “no-questions-asked” insurance rewards have historically helped recover stolen art, the Louvre’s missing jewels weren’t privately insured — dimming hopes of a quick resolution.

“I think they’ll catch the criminals,” said Christopher Marinello of Art Recovery International. “But I don’t think they’ll find them with the jewels intact.”