Louvre loot: Who buys a stolen crown? Inside the global black market for royal jewels

In just under seven minutes, four thieves scaled a furniture lift, broke through a window of the Louvre Museum in Paris, sliced open display cases with angle grinders, and made off with $102 million worth of crown jewels. But the real crime, experts say, is just beginning. Driving the news: A smash-and-scooter job Why it matters Zoom in: What was taken The eight stolen items represent some of the finest 19th-century royal jewelry ever created - not just valuable in materials, but steeped in political symbolism and French history: Each piece is a treasure of “haute joaillerie,” many made by court jewelers Nitot, Lemonnier, and Bapst - names synonymous with the Napoleonic era. “These are family souvenirs taken from the French,” conservative lawmaker Maxime Michelet said. “