VIENNA, Austria — They entered like ordinary museum visitors, bought tickets and walked through the doors without masks. Minutes later, two men allegedly smashed a display case with a hammer and fled with one of the most historically significant diamond necklaces linked to Egypt’s former royal family.
The audacious daytime robbery unfolded Thursday at Vienna’s Museum of Applied Arts, or MAK, where a spectacular Van Cleef & Arpels platinum necklace once worn by Queen Nazli of Egypt was part of a major jewelry exhibition.
Austrian police said the two suspects paid the normal admission fee and made no attempt to conceal their faces, leaving investigators with surveillance footage that could prove crucial to identifying them. They allegedly broke open the glass display and escaped with the necklace before authorities could stop them.
A 673-Diamond Royal Treasure Disappears
What the thieves took was far from an ordinary luxury necklace.
The Van Cleef & Arpels creation contains 673 diamonds set in platinum, with the stones weighing more than 200 carats in total. The dramatic Art Deco piece features diamonds arranged in a radiating, sunburst-style design.
The necklace dates to 1939 and has direct links to one of the most glamorous royal weddings of the 20th century.
Queen Nazli commissioned magnificent jewelry from Van Cleef & Arpels around the marriage of her daughter, Princess Fawzia of Egypt, to Iranian Crown Prince Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who would later become the Shah of Iran.
Sotheby’s historical records say Queen Nazli ordered two elaborate diamond parures for the occasion, including pieces for herself and the bride. The necklace later became one of the best-known examples of Van Cleef & Arpels’ work for the Egyptian royal court.
Queen Nazli herself famously wore the necklace during the 1939 royal wedding celebrations.
It Once Sold for More Than $4.28 Million
The necklace’s documented auction history makes the theft even more remarkable.
After remaining in private hands for decades, the historic jewel appeared at Sotheby’s New York on December 9, 2015, where it sold for $4.282 million.
That sale price should not automatically be treated as the necklace’s present-day value — Austrian authorities have not announced an official current valuation — but it provides a clear indication of its extraordinary financial as well as historical importance.
Sotheby’s later identified the piece as part of the Van Cleef & Arpels collection, bringing a jewel once associated with Egypt’s royal family into the French maison’s historical holdings.
Thieves Apparently Knew What They Wanted
According to reports citing Austrian authorities, the robbery occurred during normal museum hours, at around 2 p.m.
The suspects entered as paying visitors. Witnesses were nearby when the glass case containing the necklace was smashed, and police said surveillance cameras captured the men clearly because neither was masked.
The thieves then fled, triggering a major police search.
No injuries were reported in the robbery. Investigators have been examining CCTV images and other evidence as they try to determine not only where the men went, but whether other people may have been involved.
MAK confirmed that a theft had occurred but initially declined to provide extensive details while the police investigation remained active. The stolen necklace had been displayed as part of “GLANZSTÜCKE: Van Cleef & Arpels High Jewelry × Masterpieces from the MAK Collection,” an exhibition scheduled to run through September.
The Heist Comes at an Alarming Time for European Museums
The Vienna robbery is not occurring in isolation.
European law-enforcement officials have been warning about increasingly forceful thefts targeting museums and collections, particularly objects containing gold, diamonds and other materials that can potentially be broken apart, melted down or resold.
Reuters reported this week that Europol has observed a shift toward more aggressive robberies, sometimes involving perpetrators recruited through social media rather than the highly specialized art-theft networks traditionally associated with museum crime.
The soaring value of precious metals has also increased the incentive to target compact, extremely valuable objects that criminals may consider easier to transport and dispose of than large paintings or sculptures.
That trend raises an uncomfortable question about the stolen Queen Nazli necklace.
Its fame and extensive documentation make selling the intact jewel through legitimate channels extraordinarily difficult. Every detail of its design and provenance is widely recorded.
But its 673 diamonds and platinum setting could make the necklace vulnerable if criminals decide its components are more valuable to them separately than the historic masterpiece is as a whole.
For investigators, that could turn the search into a race against time.
From a Royal Wedding to a Vienna Crime Scene
For nearly nine decades, Queen Nazli’s necklace survived political upheaval, the end of Egypt’s monarchy, changing private ownership and international auctions before eventually becoming part of a celebrated jewelry collection.
Then, according to police, two men simply bought museum tickets, walked up to its display case and smashed their way inside.
The suspects’ decision to enter without masks may ultimately help authorities identify them.
The bigger question is whether investigators can find the men — and the necklace — before one of the most recognizable royal jewels of the 20th century disappears for good.
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