As a society we are not just interested in jewelry heists: you might even say we are obsessed with them. Books, films, TV shows abound decade after decade from Robin Hood to Lupin. From the Moonstone to the Oceans franchise. We love jewelry robberies the point that we seem to even admire the professional criminals who carry out these robberies. Think Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief. Yes, we’re relieved to know he’s given up his thievery, but would we really be that upset if we’d discovered every once in a while, he still pocketed a diamond bauble or two.
As a writer who has been telling stories that revolve around jewelry for over a decade, I’ve often wondered at the meanings behind this fascination. Is it that we are impressed with the thieves who manage to carry out these jobs almost always without harm to anyone? Is it the vicarious thrill? Is it that we covet the gems ourselves? Or is that that, as Carl Jung suspected, many of us have a shadow self with a perpetually present “inner thief”. He said that like diamonds, we are multi-faceted—with many of our facets in our unconscious.
Gems are objects of desire for so many of us not just for their beauty and mystery, not just for their value, but because of the stories connected to them. Each gem was created hundreds of thousands if not millions of years ago. They contain all of time. They were excavated, cut, and polished, designed and set by human hands; then each one was bought, given to, and then worn by someone with a story to tell.
History certainly proves that we have always been obsessed with precious gems. Romans believed diamonds were splinters of falling stars. Ancient Greeks thought they were tears of the gods.
Over the years I’ve kept a journal of stolen gems, lost gems and jewelry robberies that have held particular fascination for me. One lost Romanov treasure inspired my 2022 historical novel The Last Tiara. And a robbery of an opal and diamond Lover’s Eye brooch from a private collection, inspired my March 2024 novel, Forgetting to Remember which is a time travel tale of romantic suspense.
If you’re as fascinated as I am by stolen gems, here are some of the most outrageous, successful, and simply stunning thefts of the last hundred years.
The Great Pearl Robbery of 1913. The “Mona Lisa of Pearls” a necklace of 61 flawless pink pearls was sent from Paris to a London. But upon receipt, jeweler Max Mayer found the pearls were missing and instead he’d been sent lumps of sugar. The thief, Joseph Grizzard, was eventually captured and the pearls found—by chance—when a piano-maker walking on the street saw a man drop something and then suspiciously hurry way. Examining the refuse, the piano play found a broken string of pearls. He took them to the police and received a large reward.
The InterContinental Carlton, Cannes. One of the most famous hotels on the on the French Riviera, the Carlton was featured Alfred Hitchcock’s, To Catch a Thief. The hotel’s first robbery occurred in 1944. Thieves burst into the hotel’s jewelry store firing machine guns walked out with gems worth between $43 and $77 million. In 2013, the hotel hosted an “Extraordinary Diamonds” exhibit. A single gunman, in less than a minute, walked away with $136 million in precious stones. He escaped through a window.
Antwerp Diamond Centre, Belgium. Often called “the heist of the century.” In 2003 over $100 million worth of diamonds, gold, silver was taken. The thief Notarbartolo was arrested for heading a ring of Italian thieves known as the School of Turin, but the items were never found.
Harry Winston, Paris. In 2008 a group of thieves, some disguised as women, robbed the famous house of Winston of $102 million. They addressed the employees by name, showed off a hand grenade and a gun. A car waited for them, and they made a clean escape. But only for a time. The eight men were eventually caught and convicted, one of them having once been a security guard at the store.
American Museum of Natural History, New York. Being a New Yorker, this has always been one of my favorites. In 1964, two men scaled a fence and snuck into the J.P. Morgan Hall of Gems and Minerals where they gathered up their loot. In all they took 24 gems, including the Star of India (the world’s biggest sapphire, weighing 563.35 carats); the DeLong Star Ruby (100.32 carats, and considered the world’s most perfect), and the Midnight Star (the largest black sapphire, at 116 carats). They got away in regular yellow cabs with $410,000 worth of gems, which today would be worth more than $3 million. After a long investigation nine of the gems were discovered in a locker at a bus terminal in Florida. 14 of the gems are still missing.
The Damiani Showroom, Milan. Thieves dressed in police uniforms arrived at the not yet open showroom asking the staff for store records. Using electrical cables they tied the staff up, sealing their mouths shut with tape, and then locked them in a bathroom. Millions of dollars were stolen during the robbery which took 40 minutes. Luckily, some of the firm’s most valuable jewels were not in the showroom as they were being lent out to celebrities for award shows in Los Angeles.
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