Months after a group of thieves abandoned a Napoleonic crown during a brazen daytime heist at Paris' Louvre Museum, newly released photos show the diamond-and-emerald-studded headpiece significantly deformed.
The crown of Empress Eugénie, the wife of Napoleon III who ruled France in the 19th century, was found at the foot of the Apollo Gallery in the Louvre, the museum said in a news release Feb. 4. Thieves in balaclavas had dropped the gold crown after breaking into the Louvre in October and stealing French crown jewels worth millions.
Though investigators have yet to locate the eight pieces of jewelry, they were able to recover the crown and a fragment of a palmette from the crown that was found near the display case that housed it, according to the museum. Now more than three months after the theft, the Louvre has released the first photos of the crown.
The crown was damaged when the thieves attempted to remove it from a glass display case through a narrow hole they had sawed, the museum said. During the robbery, the crown was crushed and four of its palmettes were detached, the museum said.
About 10 of the 1,354 diamonds, along with one of eight golden eagles that adorned the crown, remain missing, according to the Louvre. But the museum noted the headpiece is still nearly intact and can be restored.
