Will the US$1.1 billion gems stolen from the Dresden Green Vault museum ever be seen again?
Notable gems in the collection include a 648-carat blue sapphire, believed to be worth over US$30 million, as well as the 49.71-carat, near-D colour Saxon White, worth an estimated US$12 million
Speculation in the art world is mounting as to whether an estimated €1 billion (US$1.1 billion) worth of gems stolen from the Green Vault museum in Dresden, Germany, will ever be seen again.
One jewel expert fears that 100 pieces, including three historical jewellery sets, that went missing in the dawn raid on Monday are likely to be taken apart and sold unless they end up in an oligarch’s private collection.
“This is a jewellery theft of historic proportions,” says jewellery expert and industry insider Tobias Kormind.
German media has called the theft one of the greatest heists in art history and the most significant loss of historical artefacts since World War II.
Marion Ackermann, head of the Dresden state museums, confirmed the robbery. “Three out of 10 diamond sets have gone,” she told the media, though she didn’t go into further details about the 100 pieces that were removed.
The jewels were taken from the museum after two suspects set off an alarm in a different room inside the museum as a decoy. The fear of losing these historic gems forever is mounting.
Ackermann described the gems as valuable historical artefacts, saying that they are “priceless – we can't put a figure on it.”
German daily newspaper Bild estimated the value of the missing gems to be €1 billion.
Ackermann says that while these well known gems would be difficult to sell in their current state, their historical value easily outweighs their monetary worth.
Kormind agrees, saying: “Unless an oligarch hides them, they’ll be broken up and sold”.
Though we don’t have all the details as to what has gone missing, we know that the Green Vault holds some of the world’s most significant jewels. Fortunately, the museum’s most valuable and famous gem, the 41ct Dresden Green diamond, is on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City for the Making Marvels: Science and Splendor at the Courts of Europe exhibition. The Dresden Green is the largest green diamond in the world and reportedly worth US$80 million.
Other notable gems in the collection include a 648ct blue sapphire, believed to be the largest in the world and worth over US$30 million, as well as the 49.71ct, near-D colour Saxon White, worth an estimated US$12 million.