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French authorities are making every effort to recover irreplaceable jewels stolen from the Louvre in a audacious daytime heist, yet authorities caution it might be too late to recover them.

Within the French capital over the weekend, robbers entered by force the world's most-visited museum, stealing eight valued items before escaping using scooters in a bold robbery that took about eight minutes.

International art investigator an expert in the field told the BBC he believes the stolen items may already be "long gone", after being taken apart into numerous components.

It is highly likely the pieces could be sold off for a small part of their true price and illegally transported from France, other experts indicated.

Who May Be Behind the Theft

The thieves were professionals, as the detective stated, as demonstrated by the speed with which they got inside and outside of the building in record time.

"As you might expect, as a normal person, one doesn't just get up in the morning planning, I will become a criminal, and begin with the Louvre," he explained.

"This likely isn't the first time they've done this," he said. "They've committed things before. They're self-assured and they thought, it might work out with this attempt, and went for it."

As further evidence the expertise of the gang is treated as important, an elite police team with a "strong track record in cracking high-profile robberies" has been tasked with tracking them down.

Law enforcement have stated they think the heist is linked to a sophisticated gang.

Organised crime groups of this type usually pursue two main goals, Paris prosecutor a senior official explained. "Either to act for the benefit of a financier, or to acquire valuable gems to carry out financial crimes."

The expert believes it seems impossible to market the jewels intact, and he noted targeted robbery for an individual buyer is something that mainly exists in Hollywood films.

"Few people wish to touch an artifact this recognizable," he stated. "You cannot show it to acquaintances, you cannot leave it to your children, it cannot be sold."

Possible £10m Price Tag

Mr Brand believes the stolen items will be dismantled and disassembled, with the gold and precious metals liquefied and the precious stones cut up into smaller stones that would be extremely difficult to track back to the museum theft.

Historical jewelry specialist a renowned expert, creator of the digital series If Jewels Could Talk and was the famous fashion magazine's gemstone expert for many years, stated the perpetrators had "cherry-picked" the most valuable treasures from the institution's artifacts.

The "impressively sized perfect gems" will probably be extracted of their mountings and marketed, she noted, excluding the headpiece of Empress Eugénie which features less valuable pieces incorporated within it and was considered "too dangerous to keep," she explained.

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

The imperial headpiece that was taken, contains extremely rare natural pearls which command enormous prices, experts say.

Even though the pieces are regarded as being priceless, the expert believes they could be marketed for a minimal part of their true price.

"They will go to someone who are prepared to acquire such items," she said. "Everyone will be looking for these items – they will take any amount available."

The precise value might they bring financially when disposed of? Regarding the estimated price of the haul, the expert indicated the separated elements might value "multiple millions."

The precious stones and taken gold might achieve up to £10 million (millions in euros; thirteen million dollars), according to an industry expert, chief executive of an established company, an online jeweller.

He told the BBC the thieves will require a skilled expert to extract the stones, and a skilled stone worker to alter the larger recognisable stones.

Minor components that were harder to trace might be marketed immediately and despite challenges to tell the exact price of every gem removed, the larger ones could be worth about half a million pounds per stone, he explained.

"Reports indicate a minimum of four that large, therefore combining all of those up plus the gold, one could estimate reaching the estimated figure," he stated.

"The diamond and precious stone industry is active and there are many buyers within gray markets that avoid questioning too many questions."

Hope persists that the items could reappear intact in the future – yet this possibility are fading as the days pass.

Similar cases have occurred – a historical showcase at the London museum features an item of jewellery previously stolen before reappearing in a public event many years after.

What is certain is many in France are deeply shocked by the Louvre heist, expressing a cultural bond with the artifacts.

"French people don't always value gems because it's a question of power, and this isn't typically have a good connotation among French people," a jewelry authority, curatorial leader at Parisian jewelry house the historical business, said