Another museum in France has fallen victim to an audacious theft.
Roughly 2,000 gold and silver coins were stolen from the Maison des Lumières Denis Diderot in Langres on Oct. 19, just hours after thieves made off with over $100 million in jewels from the Louvre Museum in Paris.
Museum staff discovered the theft on Oct. 21 when they noticed a smashed display case and alerted authorities, according to local officials quoted by French media outlets, including the BBC and USA Today.
Reports indicate the break-in occurred on Oct. 19 but went undetected for two days while the museum was closed. The stolen coins, dating between 1790 and 1840, were discovered in 2011 during renovations. Estimated to be worth about €90,000 (approximately $104,000), officials said the robbery was carried out with “great expertise and precision.”
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Authorities have not determined whether this incident is connected to the Louvre heist.
Just hours before the coin theft, four chainsaw-wielding burglars broke into the Louvre using a ladder lifted by a mechanical boom truck to force open a window. They escaped with millions of dollars’ worth of royal jewelry.
A Louvre spokesperson said at the time that the suspects “stole jewelry from display cases inside the museum and fled on motorcycles. An investigation has begun, and a detailed list of the stolen items is being compiled.” The statement added that the artifacts held “inestimable heritage and historical value.”
According to the Ministry of Culture, nine items were stolen from the museum:
- A sapphire tiara, sapphire necklace, and a single sapphire earring worn by Queen Marie-Amélie and Queen Hortense
- A matching emerald necklace and earrings worn by Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife
- A tiara and large brooch once owned by Empress Eugénie
- A brooch known as the “reliquary brooch.”
Experts warned that if authorities failed to recover the stolen jewels within two days, they would likely never resurface.
“[Police] know that in the next 24 or 48 hours, if these thieves are not caught, those pieces are probably long gone,” said Chris Marinello, CEO of Art Recovery International. “They may catch the criminals, but they won’t recover the jewels.”
