Van Cleef & Arpels Necklace Stolen From Vienna Museum

(MENAFN- USA Art News) Two men stole a diamond necklace valued at $4.3 million from Vienna's Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) on Thursday. The unidentified individuals entered the museum during opening hours, broke a display case, and fled with the piece, according to the Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung and CBS News. No injuries were reported during the incident.

Police stated on Friday that the suspects purchased tickets to the MAK and were clearly captured on surveillance cameras without masks. Investigators suspect the theft may have been a targeted operation commissioned by a criminal group based in the Balkans, though this theory has not been publicly confirmed by authorities, Kronen Zeitung reported. The Vienna police have initiated an extensive search for the individuals and are currently reviewing surveillance footage.

The stolen item is a platinum Van Cleef & Arpels necklace adorned with 673 stones, totaling over 200 carats. Originally created for Egypt's royal family, it was worn by Queen Nazli in 1939 for her daughter Princess Fawzia's wedding to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who would later become Iran's last shah. The necklace fetched $4.3 million when it sold at Sotheby's New York in 2015.

The necklace was on display as part of the“Glanzstücke” exhibition, which showcases jewelry from Van Cleef & Arpels alongside objects from the MAK collection. The exhibition, featuring approximately 500 objects (over 300 from the French jewelry house and over 200 from the museum's holdings), opened in June and was scheduled to conclude on September 27. It has been closed indefinitely following the theft. The MAK informed CBS that it would not provide additional details due to the ongoing police investigation.

This theft echoes other high-profile museum heists in Austria and beyond. In 2003, Benvenuto Cellini's gold-and-enamel Saliera, then valued at about €50 million ($58 million), was stolen from Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum and recovered three years later. More recently, in October 2025, thieves broke into the Louvre's Galerie d'Apollon in Paris, making off with eight pieces of the French crown jewels, including items associated with Empress Eugénie and Queen Marie-Amélie. That haul was valued at roughly $102 million, though officials noted its historical value far surpassed the market price.

We previously reported:

Thieves stole an estimated €1.7 million ($1.98 million) worth of gold artifacts from the Treasure of Villena in a four-minute heist.

Four works by Renaissance master Antonello da Messina, including three panels from his Polittico di San Gregorio altarpiece, were stolen from a Sicily museum.

Source: ARTnews

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