I saw the top piece in another article, and I heard about all the sapphires. This is my first time seeing them, and they are unbelievable. It looks like they're the right works.
There was also a crown that got dropped in the street and took some damage. At least it was recovered.
I once read a book by a retired jewel thief whose statutes of limitations has all run out, and he said that that the first thing he did was break down the jewelry, sort the stones, and melt down the settings. Then he'd fence them ASAP. Always. So all that jewelry he stole, all that sentimental value, is gone forever.
These works are priceless not only for their craftsmanship and beauty, but their historic significance as well. They were literally created to be fit for a King, or Queen.
Unfortunately, the intrinsic value of those old, perfect stones on today's market, far outweighs their historic or artistic value. There is likely some Sociopathic Oligarchs who think those stones would look better in modern settings, and be better served by being worn around, and not just put on display in some museum where nobody goes.
That's a lot of loose stones, some of them very large, and some small. There are enough to make many, many pieces of jewelry. Perhaps there will be a bit of a black market among jewelers who cater to the very wealthy, to sell works that includes a Louvre stone or two.
In the melt down and recut scenario, is it "easy money" though? Seems like robbing the most famous museum in the planet would be inviting one of the most well resourced investigations over gems that I presume could have been stolen from somewhere a little more low profile.
I'm not remotely knowledgeable, but it feels like it wouldn't be worth going after the louvre specifically without confidence you have someone willing to acquire the pieces intact rather than having to erase nearly all their "value" in the process.
They think they'll dismantle and melt them and try to fence the stones (stones, especially famous ones are pretty worthless). They should get about 200 kā¬ for the lot if they're lucky. At least according to art specialists debating on news channels.
If they're sophisticated thieves, they will be sold intact to some overseas billionaire for much more than that. You'd be surprised (or maybe not that surprised) how much stolen art and artefacts winds up in the private collections of rich assholes.
Feels like that would be super high risk for relatively low reward. I would have guessed if you wanted some relatively anonymous gems you'd do just as well with much less risk finding a couple of much lower profile jewelry stores or something.
I suppose I may be overestimating Louvre security. I guess I would assume a criminal might have to be somewhat smart to overcome what I presumed to be higher security than you might find at a typical target for idiot criminals.
Oh yes, there's basically no security. At least nothing to deal with a quick grab like that. The only concern seems to have been terrorism. And even then,it was clearly not very well taken into account.
Presumably because I said "no security ", which is a bit of an exaggeration. Very inadequate security would have been better. Supposedly there's a plan to upgrade the whole thing, but that should take a year or two still.
They'll be broken down, metal smelted, gems recut if necessary. They're gone, who cares. It's not like they were the actual crown jewels, just a few baubles.
Omg, ty not just for saying that but for the "old net" comment too - I really felt that deeply as I made the simple edit, like a pre-nostalgic sombre post of something I might be doing for the last time (not really).
Just give them to some local children to play with.
As an aside, am I the only one who always thought Alfred was kinda a piece of shit for that story? Like a lot of Batman stuff hasn't aged well, but even when I first watched that movie, going scorched earth for a jewel thief was fucked up.
Some people want to watch the world burn. Alfred actually did set their world on fire and watched it burn.
I mean, they don't have that high of a melting point... you'll end up with a lump of worthless alumina, sure, but if you really want to melt them, you can. š¤·āāļø
Things with historical value are worth far more than the cost of their raw materials. These are crown jewels, not copper pipe being sold by meth addicts.
Yeah, I know, but the thing with that is that everyone will know it's stolen, so no one dares to buy it. Because otherwise they will sit on super rare stolen items, which could land them in prison for the rest of their lives. To the only way to fend it is to melt it down, reshape the stones and sell it for its materials for far less than it's original value, or sell it to someone who wanted these specifically and hired you to the job. But again, why would you want to sit on something as hot as this...
Where was security during all this? Was there NO camera coverage on that part of the building? This is The Louvre, not a pawn shop. All the reporters keeps saying this is "the crime of the century" to which I say, "well yeah, but that's only because your awful security made that possible!"
We are in the "telling the public what evidence they have will alert the perps" phase, only wild media speculation until the investigators are done doing their thing.
I look forward to Internet Historian doing one of his stock image gilliamation videos about this.
That fact they didnāt secretly GPS tag themā¦ thatās on them, so many different ways to track āPEOPLEā let alone objects, soā¦ who fucked up? Should have been years agoā¦
People legit put AirTags/gps devices on bikes and cars, etcā¦ it could have been these items as well. Dumb!
Liquidate some old rich peopleās assets to benefit the people of France, or keep them in a box to stare at and remember how much wealthier they all were than you? āBelonged to the peopleā is a very loose description since they have no control over what the Louvre does.
Sales tax on the tickets alone more than makes up for the value of the item itself though. 8.7 million visitors a year results in a shitton of tax money which benefits the people of France.
Sure, though it could be less people for the same ticket price.
If we look at the extreme case, removing every item from the Louvre but the Mona Lisa would result in significantly less tax income because there's no way millions would spend [insert Louvre ticket price I am too lazy to research]ā¬ for looking at a single painting for 5 minutes.
Museums with more items generally result in more money.
These are beautiful impressive works of art and craftsmanship and you want to sell them off for like 8 hours of government budget so they can sit in one of those rich guys collections.
You arent just going on about lame ass workerist platitudes about "benefiting the people" its not even a coherent position once you step back even a little.
Diamonds are worthless. Shiny coal.
Some interesting industries applications, but you can get much better quality ones for much cheaper, if you're looking for that kind of thing.
Falling for a well known scam doesn't make the crap you bought any less worthless.
Buy a moissanite, if you want a shiny rock. It's prettier, almost as hard, cheaper than the overpriced cartel shit, and you won't be financing said cartels.
(And if you just want something particularly hard or good at heat transfer, industrial diamonds are quite inexpensive.)
The only reason jewelry diamonds are expensive (industrial ones are cheap) is the artificial scarcity enforced by the criminal cartels controlling their monopoly.
105 Comments
robocall@lemmy.world · 113 pts · 329d
The article can't be bothered to include any pictures of the stolen jewels
edit: I think these are the stolen jewels
Kolanaki@pawb.social · 68 pts · 329d
They would have taken their own photos, but the jewels were stolen so they couldn't.
Mrs_deWinter@feddit.org · 24 pts · 328d
Kolanaki@pawb.social · 8 pts · 328d
I won the luck lotto with an Amazon mistake that packed a freakin' Switch 2 with my order of storage containers a couple months ago. š¤£
RaivoKulli@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 327d
Reported
D_C@sh.itjust.works · 49 pts · 329d
"Why do you think these are the stolen items?"
"Well, for one, I just took these pictures in my cellar of stolen jewels..."
lightnsfw@reddthat.com · 35 pts · 328d
I'll keep an eye out for them.
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 327d
I saw the top piece in another article, and I heard about all the sapphires. This is my first time seeing them, and they are unbelievable. It looks like they're the right works.
There was also a crown that got dropped in the street and took some damage. At least it was recovered.
I once read a book by a retired jewel thief whose statutes of limitations has all run out, and he said that that the first thing he did was break down the jewelry, sort the stones, and melt down the settings. Then he'd fence them ASAP. Always. So all that jewelry he stole, all that sentimental value, is gone forever.
These works are priceless not only for their craftsmanship and beauty, but their historic significance as well. They were literally created to be fit for a King, or Queen.
Unfortunately, the intrinsic value of those old, perfect stones on today's market, far outweighs their historic or artistic value. There is likely some Sociopathic Oligarchs who think those stones would look better in modern settings, and be better served by being worn around, and not just put on display in some museum where nobody goes.
That's a lot of loose stones, some of them very large, and some small. There are enough to make many, many pieces of jewelry. Perhaps there will be a bit of a black market among jewelers who cater to the very wealthy, to sell works that includes a Louvre stone or two.
FaceDeer@fedia.io · 80 pts · 329d
Last headline I saw about this said 7 minutes. Pretty soon the thieves will be reaching back in time to grab these things.
WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 328d
Maybe they're hoping that, by posting the wrong figure, they'll compel the thieves to correct them, thereby revealing themselves.
PissingIntoTheWind@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 329d
6 or 7 minutes you say? Iām sorry. Iāll see myself out.
minnow@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 329d
sangriaferret@sh.itjust.works · 65 pts · 329d
So you have the jewels. Now what? Do they just go into some rich person's secret collection? It's not like you can fence these things.
frongt@lemmy.zip · 101 pts · 329d
On jobs like these, they already have a buyer.
Yondoza@sh.itjust.works · 14 pts · 328d
They said with suspicious confidence....
minnow@lemmy.world · 57 pts · 329d
When the French Blue was stolen after the revolution, it was recut and probably became the Hope Diamond.
If they can't find a buyer, they'll melt it down and recut any gems that are too recognizable. Easy money, if you know the right people.
jj4211@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 327d
In the melt down and recut scenario, is it "easy money" though? Seems like robbing the most famous museum in the planet would be inviting one of the most well resourced investigations over gems that I presume could have been stolen from somewhere a little more low profile.
I'm not remotely knowledgeable, but it feels like it wouldn't be worth going after the louvre specifically without confidence you have someone willing to acquire the pieces intact rather than having to erase nearly all their "value" in the process.
minnow@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 327d
It certainly wouldn't be the desired outcome! But the point is that there's money to be made either way.
AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 328d
They think they'll dismantle and melt them and try to fence the stones (stones, especially famous ones are pretty worthless). They should get about 200 kā¬ for the lot if they're lucky. At least according to art specialists debating on news channels.
I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world · 29 pts · 328d
If they're sophisticated thieves, they will be sold intact to some overseas billionaire for much more than that. You'd be surprised (or maybe not that surprised) how much stolen art and artefacts winds up in the private collections of rich assholes.
AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 328d
For some reason, this is not considered likely by the investigators. Don't ask me why.
Pulptastic@midwest.social · 10 pts · 328d
They canāt prosecute the rich, why even bother investigating them.
psoul@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 328d
I wonāt ask you why but will ask you for a source as I find it surprising too.
AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 328d
Source is local news channels.
jj4211@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 327d
Feels like that would be super high risk for relatively low reward. I would have guessed if you wanted some relatively anonymous gems you'd do just as well with much less risk finding a couple of much lower profile jewelry stores or something.
AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 327d
You seem to think criminals have actually reflected upon this. They might actually be idiots.
jj4211@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 327d
I suppose I may be overestimating Louvre security. I guess I would assume a criminal might have to be somewhat smart to overcome what I presumed to be higher security than you might find at a typical target for idiot criminals.
AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 327d
Oh yes, there's basically no security. At least nothing to deal with a quick grab like that. The only concern seems to have been terrorism. And even then,it was clearly not very well taken into account.
jj4211@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 327d
Curious why you got a downvote, if there's a good reason, I would have found a reply more informative...
AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 327d
Presumably because I said "no security ", which is a bit of an exaggeration. Very inadequate security would have been better. Supposedly there's a plan to upgrade the whole thing, but that should take a year or two still.
cmbabul@slrpnk.net · 10 pts · 328d
Float a line to the Saudi Royal family Jared Kushner, theyād buy them no shame at all
Goodlucksil@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 328d
Bold of you to assume they haven't already bought them.
MML@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 328d
I'd check the owners house, I assume they're insured.
Halcyon@discuss.tchncs.de · 5 pts · 328d
They're part of the French crown jewels and had been acquired by the Louvre in 1985 so they were kept in (and stolen from) the owner's house.
MrsDoyle@sh.itjust.works · 0 pts · 328d
They'll be broken down, metal smelted, gems recut if necessary. They're gone, who cares. It's not like they were the actual crown jewels, just a few baubles.
klammeraffe@lemmy.cafe · 45 pts · 329d
Someone should really try to beat that record should they be returned.
Masamune@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 328d
I'm Danny Ocean, and I approve this message.
A_norny_mousse@feddit.org · 38 pts · 329d
I thought this type of crime was deeply rooted in the past, and fiction. If no-one got seriously hurt: chapeau!
tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip · 10 pts · 328d
Maybe not so unusual. I was at a museum in Germany on vacation a few months before I saw in the news there was a jewel heist there
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dresden_Green_Vault_burglary
luciferofastora@feddit.org · 4 pts · 328d
So you were scoping the place before the deed? Hmmmm
Kyle_The_G@lemmy.world · 34 pts · 329d
i bet it was lupin!
D_C@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 329d
{Dr House barges in} "It's never lupu...sorry, what did you say?ā
SarcasticMan@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 329d
It fits
Evil_Shrubbery@thelemmy.club · 21 pts · 328d
MonkeMischief@lemmy.today · 4 pts · 328d
This is art. Thank you for taking the time to make this. You're reviving the spirit of the best parts of the Old 'Net. :D
Evil_Shrubbery@thelemmy.club · 6 pts · 328d
Omg, ty not just for saying that but for the "old net" comment too - I really felt that deeply as I made the simple edit, like a pre-nostalgic sombre post of something I might be doing for the last time (not really).
Soulg@ani.social · 3 pts · 328d
Beautiful
unphazed@lemmy.world · 31 pts · 328d
I never understood stealing high value items. That shit is gonna be so hot it'd take a deep network to fence.
flightyhobler@lemmy.world · 46 pts · 328d
You're assuming they don't have a customer yet.
ChaoticEntropy@feddit.uk · 5 pts · 328d
Indeed, it's not like this was opportunism.
Buddahriffic@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 328d
Just give them to some local children to play with.
As an aside, am I the only one who always thought Alfred was kinda a piece of shit for that story? Like a lot of Batman stuff hasn't aged well, but even when I first watched that movie, going scorched earth for a jewel thief was fucked up.
Some people want to watch the world burn. Alfred actually did set their world on fire and watched it burn.
TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 7 pts · 328d
Melt it down, problem solved
IhaveCrabs111@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 328d
leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 328d
I mean, they don't have that high of a melting point... you'll end up with a lump of worthless alumina, sure, but if you really want to melt them, you can. š¤·āāļø
TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 328d
Melt the gold/silver, the stones can be re-shaped. It will lose value but I think it's the only way to fend it.
NutWrench@lemmy.ml · 3 pts · 327d
Things with historical value are worth far more than the cost of their raw materials. These are crown jewels, not copper pipe being sold by meth addicts.
TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 327d
Yeah, I know, but the thing with that is that everyone will know it's stolen, so no one dares to buy it. Because otherwise they will sit on super rare stolen items, which could land them in prison for the rest of their lives. To the only way to fend it is to melt it down, reshape the stones and sell it for its materials for far less than it's original value, or sell it to someone who wanted these specifically and hired you to the job. But again, why would you want to sit on something as hot as this...
bubblybubbles@lemmy.ml · 29 pts · 329d
0_0j@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 329d
Noo, possibly couldn't, they're the good guys now
bubblybubbles@lemmy.ml · -1 pts · 328d
Officially as of the sequel, they're actually dead, but unofficially they're secret agents so anything could go now ha ha!
Feathercrown@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 329d
I just watched the sequel, it was pretty good. Dreamworks is on some real solid shit lately
bubblybubbles@lemmy.ml · -1 pts · 328d
And I am so thankful its actually good because my niece has been wanting to watch it EVERY time she comes over
Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 20 pts · 329d
"Guys, the jewels, go get them."
"I don't know much about rocks, but I know what I like, and that is rocks that sell."
"It's a funny fuckin' world we live in, eh?"
GuyLivingHere@lemmy.ca · 19 pts · 328d
Darleys_Brew@lemmy.ml · 18 pts · 328d
Thats where I wear a chastity beltā¦no ones getting their hands on my crown jewels.
Trainguyrom@reddthat.com · 11 pts · 328d
I love how my brain immediately pictured a jewel encrusted royal chastity belt despite nothing in your comment saying anything to suggest that
UniversalBasicJustice@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 7 pts · 328d
With the word "Princess" spelled out in diamonds washed in the blood of African children!
Darleys_Brew@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 326d
Crown jewelsā¦Brit slang for the gentlemans area.
fox2263@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 328d
Canāt wait for the film
Microtonal_Banana@lemmy.zip · 17 pts · 328d
Where was Nicholas Cage?
flightyhobler@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 328d
Didn't anyone bother to get an airtag on those things?
melsaskca@lemmy.ca · 11 pts · 327d
These trinkets will go to a very rich collector, not through your typical "fence the goods" path. I'd check Mar-a-Lago as a first step.
NutWrench@lemmy.ml · 8 pts · 327d
Where was security during all this? Was there NO camera coverage on that part of the building? This is The Louvre, not a pawn shop. All the reporters keeps saying this is "the crime of the century" to which I say, "well yeah, but that's only because your awful security made that possible!"
Bahnd@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 327d
We are in the "telling the public what evidence they have will alert the perps" phase, only wild media speculation until the investigators are done doing their thing.
I look forward to Internet Historian doing one of his stock image gilliamation videos about this.
blibla@slrpnk.net · 7 pts · 328d
can't wait for the true crime yt essay
HugeNerd@lemmy.ca · 7 pts · 328d
Oh no, the world is missing some shiny rocks. I demand the planet cease rotating until these rocks are restituted!
Prox@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 329d
Run the Jewels!
tlmcleod@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 328d
I wonder if they were listening to that while doing the job. 3:30 fits the 4 minute time frame
riquisimo@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 329d
Run the jewels, fast!
Scrizzle@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 328d
Underrated comment.
favoredponcho@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 327d
Nikls94@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 327d
Best thing to do is to smash them and sell them afterwards to different people, no?
Noodle07@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 327d
No they're worthy because of their history
favoredponcho@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 327d
Montreal_Metro@lemmy.ca · -1 pts · 327d
Congratulations, they just stole a lump of carbon or silica.
Plurrbear@lemmy.world · -6 pts · 328d
That fact they didnāt secretly GPS tag themā¦ thatās on them, so many different ways to track āPEOPLEā let alone objects, soā¦ who fucked up? Should have been years agoā¦
People legit put AirTags/gps devices on bikes and cars, etcā¦ it could have been these items as well. Dumb!
Wav_function@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 328d
How you gonna air tag an earring?
venusaur@lemmy.world · -19 pts · 329d
1300 diamonds in EugĆ©nieās crown? That shoulda been sold and given to the people long time ago. Take a pic and move on.
trashgirlfriend@lemmy.world · 22 pts · 329d
They were in a museum, they belonged to the people there
venusaur@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 328d
Liquidate some old rich peopleās assets to benefit the people of France, or keep them in a box to stare at and remember how much wealthier they all were than you? āBelonged to the peopleā is a very loose description since they have no control over what the Louvre does.
yetAnotherUser@discuss.tchncs.de · 6 pts · 328d
Sales tax on the tickets alone more than makes up for the value of the item itself though. 8.7 million visitors a year results in a shitton of tax money which benefits the people of France.
venusaur@lemmy.world · -2 pts · 328d
Totally, but people would still line up to see Mona Lisa. Not saying to get rid of the museum.
yetAnotherUser@discuss.tchncs.de · 4 pts · 328d
Sure, though it could be less people for the same ticket price.
If we look at the extreme case, removing every item from the Louvre but the Mona Lisa would result in significantly less tax income because there's no way millions would spend [insert Louvre ticket price I am too lazy to research]ā¬ for looking at a single painting for 5 minutes.
Museums with more items generally result in more money.
venusaur@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 328d
Who said to make the Louvre just the Mona Lisa?
yetAnotherUser@discuss.tchncs.de · 3 pts · 328d
It was an example to illustrate the relation:
Number of items ā Tax Revenue
favoredponcho@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 327d
trashgirlfriend@lemmy.world · -2 pts · 328d
This is your brain on workerism
venusaur@lemmy.world · -2 pts · 328d
Enjoy your cake
trashgirlfriend@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 328d
These are beautiful impressive works of art and craftsmanship and you want to sell them off for like 8 hours of government budget so they can sit in one of those rich guys collections.
You arent just going on about lame ass workerist platitudes about "benefiting the people" its not even a coherent position once you step back even a little.
venusaur@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 327d
Wow you love the crown. Youāre unable to even think of ways to spend the money outside of government. This mentality is exactly that of Empress EugĆ©nieās and why the Second Empire was easily overthrown. Valuing jewels over people is astonishingly dystopian.
leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 328d
Diamonds are worthless. Shiny coal. Some interesting industries applications, but you can get much better quality ones for much cheaper, if you're looking for that kind of thing.
venusaur@lemmy.world · -4 pts · 328d
Diamonds are worthless is a crazy statement. Tell that to every person who has ever had to buy a diamond engagement ring.
leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 328d
Falling for a well known scam doesn't make the crap you bought any less worthless.
Buy a moissanite, if you want a shiny rock. It's prettier, almost as hard, cheaper than the overpriced cartel shit, and you won't be financing said cartels.
(And if you just want something particularly hard or good at heat transfer, industrial diamonds are quite inexpensive.)
venusaur@lemmy.world · -4 pts · 328d
Just because you think something is worthless doesnāt mean you can afford to buy it.
leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 327d
It's fucking carbon.
It's one of the most common gems on Earth.
The only reason jewelry diamonds are expensive (industrial ones are cheap) is the artificial scarcity enforced by the criminal cartels controlling their monopoly.
venusaur@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 327d
If itās up then itās up. Youāre opinion clearly has no effect on the market.
leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 327d
Of course not. De Beers' does. That's the point.
Do try to resell a jewelry diamond, though, and tell me how much profit you made.