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French authorities are urgently trying to locate priceless treasures stolen from the Louvre Museum in a brazen broad daylight theft, but experts caution it may already be past the point of recovery to get them back.

Within the French capital on Sunday, burglars broke into the most popular museum globally, stealing eight valued items then fleeing via motor scooters in a audacious theft that took about just minutes.

Dutch art detective an expert in the field stated publicly he suspects the jewels may already be "long gone", once separated into many fragments.

Experts suggest the artifacts could be sold off for a small part of their true price and smuggled out of French territory, several authorities noted.

Who May Be Behind the Theft

The perpetrators are experienced criminals, Mr Brand believes, as demonstrated by the way they managed in and out of the museum in record time.

"Realistically speaking, as a normal person, people don't suddenly decide overnight planning, I will become a thief, let's start with the Louvre," he noted.

"This isn't the first time they've done this," he said. "They have done previous crimes. They feel certain and they thought, we might get away with this attempt, and went for it."

As further evidence the professionalism of the gang is treated as important, an elite police team with a "proven effectiveness in resolving significant crimes" has been given responsibility with tracking them down.

Law enforcement have indicated they suspect the heist is connected to a criminal organization.

Criminal organizations of this type typically have two primary purposes, Paris prosecutor a senior official explained. "Either to act on behalf of a financier, or to acquire expensive jewelry to conduct financial crimes."

Mr Brand thinks it seems highly unlikely to market the jewels as complete pieces, and he noted commissioned theft for an individual buyer represents a situation that typically occurs in fictional stories.

"Few people wish to touch an item so hot," he stated. "It cannot be shown publicly, it cannot be passed to heirs, there's no market for it."

Possible £10m Value

The detective suggests the artifacts will be taken apart and disassembled, including the gold and silver components melted and the gems divided into smaller components that will be extremely difficult to track back to the Paris heist.

Gemstone expert a renowned expert, creator of the podcast If Jewels Could Talk and previously served as the prestigious publication's jewellery editor for two decades, explained the robbers had "carefully selected" the most significant gemstones from the Louvre's collection.

The "beautiful large flawless stones" will probably be extracted of their mountings and marketed, she said, excluding the headpiece of the French empress which features less valuable pieces set in it and was "too hot to possess," she explained.

This potentially clarifies why it was dropped while fleeing, in addition to a second artifact, and found by authorities.

Empress Eugenie's tiara that was taken, contains extremely rare natural pearls which command enormous prices, specialists confirm.

Even though the pieces are regarded as having immeasurable worth, the expert believes they will be disposed of for a small percentage of their value.

"They will go to buyers who are able to handle these," she explained. "Many people will seek for these items – the thieves will accept any amount available."

How much exactly would they generate financially upon being marketed? Concerning the possible worth of the stolen goods, the expert said the dismantled components could be worth "several million."

The precious stones and removed precious metal might achieve approximately £10 million (millions in euros; $13.4m), says Tobias Kormind, senior official of a prominent jeweler, a digital jewelry retailer.

He told the BBC the thieves will require a trained specialist to separate the jewels, and a professional diamond cutter to modify the more noticeable pieces.

Minor components that were harder to trace might be marketed right away and while it was hard to determine the precise value of each piece taken, the bigger stones could be worth approximately half a million pounds per stone, he noted.

"There are at least four of that size, thus totaling all those pieces up plus the precious metal, it's likely reaching ten million," he stated.

"The jewelry and gemstone market is liquid and there are many buyers on the fringes that won't inquire too many questions."

Hope persists that the items may be found undamaged in the future – yet this possibility are diminishing over time.

Historical examples exist – the Cartier exhibition at the cultural institution features a piece of jewelry taken decades ago before reappearing in a sale several decades later.

Definitely are numerous French citizens are extremely upset about the museum robbery, demonstrating an emotional attachment with the artifacts.

"French people don't always value gems because it's a matter concerning privilege, and which doesn't always carry positive associations in France," Alexandre Leger, director of historical collections at established French company the historical business, stated