Priceless Diamond Necklace Stolen from Vienna Museum

Two men stole a 200 carat platinum and diamond necklace from the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) in Vienna on Thursday. The robbers entered the museum as visitors by purchasing tickets before using a hammer to smash a glass display case in a temporary exhibition for the French designer Van Cleef and Arpels. According to police, the perpetrators did not wear masks and were captured on surveillance cameras; one suspect was believed to be carrying a real firearm. Security staff and visitors were present during the incident, but police stated it was understandable that staff did not obstruct the armed individual.

The stolen jewelry belonged to Egypt's deposed Queen Nazli and was created in 1939 for her daughter's marriage to the future Shah of Iran. The piece contains 673 precious stones and was valued at approximately 3.7 million euros, or 4.3 million dollars, based on a Sotheby's auction record from ten years ago. The MAK museum confirmed the theft but provided no further comment.

This heist is part of a wider trend of art thefts across Europe. Other recent incidents include a theft of Bronze Age jewelry from the Archaeological Museum of Villena in Spain and the theft of paintings by Antonello da Messina from the Museo Accascina. Both reports also reference a high profile break in at the Louvre in Paris last October, where jewelry worth over 100 million dollars was stolen in under eight minutes.