Louvre heist is a result of the world’s rush to gold

With fewer banks to rob and less money kept in safes, those who enjoy stealing in the real world are turning to newly minted cryptocurrency entrepreneurs or looking for easily removed items, such as high-end watches. Art exhibitions now find themselves at the rarer end of this nasty business.

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This will further compound the distress of small museums; Three-fifths of museums say they are worried about their future as visitor numbers decline and costs rise. How can they fund extra security in this environment? If what made the Louvre robbery a “slap in the face” for all museums, as art detective Christopher Marinello put it, can happen to the grand old lady of such institutions, what hope do others have? A generous €800 million renovation is already planned. The less exalted will not be so lucky.

What happens next? The entire French state took action to track down the traitors.

Tiaras, brooches, necklaces and earrings from the collections of Empress Eugénie and various royals can be difficult to launder, even if they are dismantled and sold in hard-to-identify pieces. Security measures will be increased. The art community is on red alert.

So what can stop the next group of opportunists? Museums, as will collectors, will need to be much more careful about crudely luring visitors with the value of their exhibits. Judges will be under pressure to impose harsh sentences to deter copycats.

And those outside aren’t the only threat. British Museum Dismissed one staff member in 2023 After nearly 2000 treasures were reported lost, stolen or damaged.

Everything is so different from this breakthrough theft Mona Lisa from the Louvre a century agoThis inflated his legend.

While today’s Arsene Lupins have their sights set squarely on shiny metals, not da Vincis, the gold boom seems to have made us all narrow-minded.