Small ones go to pawn shops.
Large ones like the french heist will likely have been paid by someone to get it.
For normally stolen pieces, melted down and the gems refit.
This? Probably sitting in some 1%'ers private collection so they can play dress-up.
Either that, or it also goes through a chop shop and they’ll sell the individual materials for much less than it would be worth
Likely though, I imagine this was a custom order job for some 0.1% asshole
You could steal much easier and less risky from lesser known places. If you wanted to steal gold and gems to melt down and reassemble why create so much public and international attention?
My bet is on a private purchaser that specifically wanted these items for his collection.
There was another heist earlier this year where some gold artifacts were stolen and then sold to jewelery makers who melted them down.
They either already have a buyer set up before the heist (seems unlikely, things that probably just happen in movies) or far more likely, cut it up into unrecognizable gemstones then sell it
why should this be unlikely? billionaire goes
i want his
not to show off in public, just for the feel of power? then hires adequate personnel for the task
Third option: the thief wanted it for themselves and has no plan to sell.
I was going to mention this as well. I doubt it’s the case with this theft given how it was done, but my wife recently finished reading a book about Stéphane Breitwieser who admitted to stealing over 200 works of art from smaller museums throughout Europe in the late 90s. He kept pretty much everything he stole for his personal collection.
Joke : Should stay in a British museum cuz obviously the French can’t take care of those
Nice try, you can’t bait me that easily!
The value rarely is in the jewelry, but rather in the jewels themselves. So, if you had stolen, for example, a gold ring with a big diamond, you’d take out the diamond and either sell it as-is, or chop it into smaller diamonds and sell them, and probably have the gold smelted back into raw material again. From what I know, it apparently is common for gems (especially very valuable ones) to be given as gifts or traded and fitted into new settings, like rings, necklaces, crowns etc. over the course of centuries, not just stay in the same piece forever.
What I think is most likely in this case, is that some rich asshole wanted to have them for their private collection and hired someone to steal them.
The Louvre heist was done in broad daylight and nobody stopped them. If it hasn’t occurred to anyone that this was orchestrated by people of the highest authority who are far above the law, I don’t know what else to tell you. The value of those jewels can now be recirculated back into the economy instead of sitting uselessly in a glass case for eternity.
Well, not without insurance and apparently there was none.
Reeks of an inside job.
