Experts fear stolen Louvre jewelry already destroyed

The Louvre Museum in Paris reopened on Wednesday as the French capital started to recover from Sunday's daring heist, in which thieves stole $102 million of antique jewelry.

However, while the reopening of the famed institution appeared to be a return to normal, experts said it may take several years for it to recover its tattered reputation.

Police have warned they may never recover the eight pieces of royal jewelry taken in the four-minute daylight raid, because they could have already been broken into their constituent pearls, sapphires, emeralds, diamonds and gold.

"It's extremely unlikely these jewels will ever be retrieved and seen again," said Tobias Kormind, managing director of 77 Diamonds, a major European diamond seller. "If these gems are broken up and sold off, they will, in effect, vanish from history and be lost to the world forever."

The stolen pieces — an emerald necklace and earrings, two crowns, two brooches, a sapphire necklace and an earring — were all made hundreds of years ago for royal clients and would be highly recognizable if left intact, Kormind said.

For many in France, the stolen items, which include a necklace given by Napoleon Bonaparte as a wedding gift to his second wife, are symbols of the country's wealth, power and cultural importance, The Associated Press reported, saying that people are feeling let down by the museum that had been entrusted with their care.

With people wanting to know how such a brazen theft was allowed to happen, the museum's director was called before a cultural committee at the French Senate on Wednesday to answer questions that will likely keep coming.

Laure Beccuau, the Paris prosecutor leading the investigation, told the French radio station RTL that the $102 million price tag attached to the jewelry reflects the basic cost of the jewels and precious metals involved, and not their historical value, which she said is priceless.

No rest until arrests

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said about 60 of the 100 people investigating the theft are police officers, and that they will not rest until the four perpetrators — who used a cherry picker and power tools to access the first-floor room where the jewels were — are in custody.

However, Maxime Michelet, a lawmaker from the conservative Union of the Right for the Republic, said in Parliament on Tuesday: "These are family souvenirs that have been taken from the French. Empress Eugenie's crown — stolen, then dropped and found broken in the gutter — has become the symbol of the decline of a nation that used to be so admired. It is shameful for our country, incapable of guaranteeing the security of the world's largest museum."

France's Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin agreed, saying, "The French people all feel like they've been robbed."