How Soaring Gold Prices Sparked a New Age of Museum Heists

With gold prices now absurdly high, thieves know museums like the Louvre are handy places to get their hands on staggeringly lucrative scores.

On the morning of Sunday, 19 October 2025, the doors of the world-famous Louvre opened in Paris.

Less than half an hour later, a team of four entered the Galerie d’Apollon wearing orange and yellow vests that matched the museum’s maintenance crews.

Their speed was extraordinary. A freight lift hoisted the operatives to a window on the Seine-facing façade; within four to seven minutes they had cut through reinforced glass cases, removed eight historic jewels, including the pearl tiara of Empress Eugénie, and escaped. The crown belonging to Eugénie, the wife of Napoleon III, was dropped and found broken near the museum.

They knew what to target: objects rich in gold and gems, but with heritage value secondary to their melt-and-sell potential.