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Law enforcement in France are desperate to retrieve extremely valuable jewels taken from the Louvre Museum in a brazen broad daylight theft, yet authorities are concerned it could be past the point of recovery to save them.

Within the French capital this past Sunday, robbers broke into the world's most-visited museum, taking eight cherished pieces then fleeing using scooters in a audacious theft that took about eight minutes.

Expert art detective an expert in the field expressed his view he suspects the jewels are likely "dispersed", having been broken up into many fragments.

There is a strong chance the pieces could be sold off for a fraction of their worth and smuggled out of France, several authorities noted.

Possible Culprits Behind the Theft

The perpetrators acted professionally, as the detective stated, as demonstrated by the fact they were inside and outside of the Louvre with such efficiency.

"Realistically speaking, for regular people, people don't suddenly decide in the morning believing, I'm going to become a burglar, choosing as first target the Louvre Museum," he explained.

"This won't be their initial robbery," he continued. "They have done things before. They are confident and they calculated, it might work out with this plan, and proceeded."

In another sign the professionalism of the gang is treated as important, a specialist police unit with a "strong track record in cracking significant crimes" has been assigned with finding them.

Police officials have indicated they suspect the robbery relates to a sophisticated gang.

Organised crime groups of this type usually pursue two objectives, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said. "Either they operate for the benefit of a financier, or to acquire valuable gems to carry out financial crimes."

The detective suggests it is impossible to sell the items intact, and he said stealing-to-order for a private collector represents a situation that mainly exists in Hollywood films.

"Nobody wants to acquire an item so hot," he explained. "It cannot be shown publicly, you can't bequeath it to heirs, it cannot be sold."

Potential £10m Worth

The detective suggests the objects are likely broken down and broken up, with the gold and silver components melted and the gems cut up into smaller components that could be virtually impossible to track back to the museum theft.

Jewellery historian Carol Woolton, creator of the audio program focusing on gemstones and formerly worked as the famous fashion magazine's gemstone expert for many years, stated the thieves had "cherry-picked" the most significant treasures from the museum's holdings.

The "beautiful large exquisite jewels" are expected to be removed from the jewelry pieces and sold, she said, except for the headpiece of the historical figure which contains smaller gems set in it and proved to be "too dangerous to keep," she explained.

This might account for why it was dropped as they got away, along with another piece, and located by officials.

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

Although the artifacts have been described as being priceless, the historian expects them to be sold for a small percentage of their value.

"They will go to individuals who are prepared to take possession," she explained. "Everyone will be looking for the stolen goods – they'll settle for what they can get."

The precise value could they fetch in money when disposed of? Regarding the possible worth of the haul, Mr Brand indicated the dismantled components may amount to "multiple millions."

The precious stones and gold stolen might achieve approximately £10 million (over eleven million euros; $13.4m), according to Tobias Kormind, chief executive of a prominent jeweler, an online jeweller.

The expert explained the thieves will require an experienced professional to remove the gems, and an expert gem cutter to modify the bigger identifiable gems.

Less noticeable gems that couldn't be easily recognized would be disposed of quickly and although difficult to estimate the specific worth of all the stones removed, the bigger stones might value around £500,000 per stone, he said.

"There are a minimum of four comparable in size, therefore combining each of them up plus the precious metal, one could estimate approaching the estimated figure," he said.

"The diamond and precious stone industry is active and plenty of customers operate in less regulated areas that avoid questioning about origins."

Hope persists that the items could reappear intact in the future – but those hopes are diminishing with each passing day.

Similar cases have occurred – a jewelry display at the cultural institution features an item of jewellery stolen in 1948 that later resurfaced in an auction several decades later.

Without doubt includes the French public are extremely upset by the Louvre heist, expressing a personal connection toward the treasures.

"We don't necessarily value gems since it represents an issue of authority, and which doesn't always have a good connotation within French culture," a jewelry authority, director of historical collections at French jeweller Maison Vever, said