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French authorities are urgently trying to locate extremely valuable treasures taken from the Louvre in a audacious daylight robbery, but experts are concerned it could be past the point of recovery to recover them.

In Paris over the weekend, burglars gained access to the most popular museum globally, stealing eight valued items and getting away via motor scooters in a audacious theft that lasted approximately eight minutes.

Dutch art detective an expert in the field stated publicly he feared the jewels may already be "dispersed", after being taken apart into hundreds of parts.

There is a strong chance the artifacts could be sold off for a mere percentage of their value and smuggled out of the country, several authorities have said.

Who May Be Behind the Robbery

The thieves are experienced criminals, according to the expert, as demonstrated by the fact they were in and out of the Louvre with such efficiency.

"As you might expect, for regular people, people don't suddenly decide in the morning believing, I'm going to become a thief, let's start with the world-famous museum," he explained.

"This likely isn't their initial robbery," he continued. "They've committed things before. They feel certain and they believed, we might get away with this plan, and took the chance."

In another sign the expertise of the thieves is being taken seriously, an elite police team with a "high success rate in cracking major theft cases" has been tasked with locating the perpetrators.

Law enforcement have said they think the heist relates to an organised crime network.

Sophisticated gangs such as these usually pursue two objectives, French prosecutor the prosecutor stated. "Either they operate on behalf of a sponsor, or to acquire expensive jewelry to perform money laundering operations."

The expert believes it is highly unlikely to sell the items in their original form, and he explained stealing-to-order for a private collector represents a situation that mainly exists in movies.

"Nobody wants to handle a piece this recognizable," he stated. "It cannot be shown publicly, you cannot leave it to heirs, you cannot sell it."

Estimated £10m Price Tag

The detective suggests the artifacts will be dismantled and separated, including the gold and silver components melted and the gems divided into smaller stones that would be extremely difficult to trace back to the Paris heist.

Historical jewelry specialist an authority in the field, host of the audio program If Jewels Could Talk and was Vogue magazine's jewelry specialist for 20 years, stated the thieves had "cherry-picked" the most significant jewels from the institution's artifacts.

The "beautiful large exquisite jewels" will probably be removed of their mountings and disposed of, she explained, except for the headpiece of the French empress which contains smaller gems set in it and was considered "too dangerous to possess," she continued.

This potentially clarifies the reason it was abandoned as they got away, along with one other item, and found by authorities.

The imperial headpiece that disappeared, contains extremely rare natural pearls which have a very large value, specialists confirm.

While the items are considered having immeasurable worth, the expert believes they could be marketed for a small percentage of their value.

"They're destined to individuals who is willing to take possession," she stated. "Everyone will be looking for the stolen goods – they will take any amount available."

The precise value could they fetch financially if sold on? Concerning the estimated price of the haul, the expert said the dismantled components might value "several million."

The jewels and gold stolen might achieve approximately a significant sum (over eleven million euros; $13.4m), stated by Tobias Kormind, chief executive of 77 Diamonds, a digital jewelry retailer.

The expert explained the thieves would need a trained specialist to extract the stones, and a skilled stone worker to change the more noticeable pieces.

Less noticeable gems that couldn't be easily recognized might be marketed immediately and while it was hard to tell the exact price of every gem removed, the more significant gems may amount to about half a million pounds per stone, he said.

"We know there are at least four comparable in size, so adding each of them along with the gold, one could estimate reaching the estimated figure," he concluded.

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

Hope persists that the stolen goods could reappear undamaged in the future – but those hopes are diminishing as the days pass.

Historical examples exist – a historical showcase at the V&A Museum features an item of jewellery stolen in 1948 that later resurfaced in a public event many years after.

Definitely is many in France are deeply shocked by the Louvre heist, demonstrating an emotional attachment toward the treasures.

"We don't necessarily appreciate jewelry because it's a question of privilege, and that doesn't necessarily have a good connotation among French people," Alexandre Leger, head of heritage at French jeweller Maison Vever, said