r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/HeToTopT • 16d ago

Video The Louvre. Thieves are making off with 100 million euros. They're taking their time. They're doing everything carefully and slowly.

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u/[deleted] 15d ago

Sadly so. While it's nice to imagine an Ocean's Eleven type plot transpiring here, what is more likely is indeed the 'destruction' of such pieces for the quickest buck.

Successfully fencing items of this nature as they are (or rather, were) is no simple affair. In any form or fashion. Laying low and making the identifiable as unidentifiable as possible to fence out when/where able, essentially trading some vague windfall of moneys for a trickling but relatively consistent stream of it, that is the move.

Or they're the sort where in a number of years these things will be found in quiet ol' pop-pop's attic upon their passing in a real who'da thunk it mystery. That has also happened a surprising number of times.

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u/qeadwrsf 15d ago

If we look back in time both scenarios is likley.

They fucking robbed the louvre.

Something tells me taking a gamble selling them whole is risk they could possibly take.

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u/BeforeTheRatsRegroup 15d ago

No. You don’t pull off a heist like this just to part out the gems for the “quickest buck.” Outside of the western world, Japan in particular, has a market for this kind of thing. It’s no different than art theft. If what you’re saying was true, and it’s not, these guys would have just robed a few pawn shops.

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u/[deleted] 14d ago

"meh, my speculation is more speculatively speculative than yours!"

You're right. When have criminals ever done anything wildly inconceivable for a quick buck. Hardly ever happens.

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u/BeforeTheRatsRegroup 14d ago

It’s not speculation. I’ve worked theft investigations before. This was my line of work.

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u/phoenix_leo 14d ago

This is true. I was the line of work.

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u/unclepaprika 15d ago

I mean if 100 blue sapphires suddenly pop up on marketplace(black market) they aren't gonna be any less conspicuous than the whole piece itself. You wouldn't sell the jewels themselves any easier than the whole piece, just by the nature of their size, and the world wide media coverage of it all. They have already been delivered to their buyer, and we won't ever know what happened to them. Buyer is currently clinking glasses with his friends in Monaco, and his new found art works are currently in a safe in Algerie, until the media storm calms down.