Two visitors smashed a display case and made off with a platinum and diamond necklace at the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) in Vienna yesterday afternoon, August 27.
Per the Viennese daily newspaper Der Standard, the Van Cleef & Arpels necklace was last appraised at $4.6 million by Sotheby’s. It was displayed as part of Glanzstücke, an ongoing exhibition featuring over 500 works gathered from the museum’s design collection and the French luxury jewelry house.
The 200-karat, 673-white diamond necklace was designed in 1939 for Egyptian Queen Nazli on the occasion of her daughter Princess Fawzia’s marriage to Iranian Prince Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who later became Iran’s last shah.
A press statement from the museum confirmed the theft, but officials declined to comment further due to the ongoing investigation.
Austrian media outlets reported that the two men paid for their ticketed entry into the museum before approaching the display case containing the necklace, a set of earrings, and a double-clip brooch from the same collection, along with two decorative wares.
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