Dresden – Saxony’s most valuable treasure is back! On Saturday night, most of the jewels stolen three years ago were secured and transferred to the Green Vault in Dresden under the protection of special forces.

Experts are now checking whether the 31 pieces of jewelry found are actually genuine and in what condition they are. Because the Dresden State Art Collections (SKD) had always spoken of only 21 stolen parts after the theft. “You now have to see if anything was smashed or broken,” said SKD spokesman Holger Liebs on Sunday.

Some parts appear complete, according to investigators, such as the hat ornament and breast star of the Polish Order of the White Eagle. But what happened to the historic gems that weren’t hidden with the rest of the loot?

Missing pieces are set with hundreds of diamonds

“Among other things, the epaulette with the Saxon white and the large breast bow of Queen Amalie Auguste are missing,” said the Dresden public prosecutor. The Saxon White in the brilliant-set epaulette is a 50-carat diamond that was once acquired by Augustus the Strong and has been owned by the Free State since 1728.

Explosive: The epaulette had already been damaged during the theft when the perpetrators smashed the showcases with an axe. Was that why the individual stones were separated and sold?

The large breast bow of Queen Amalie Auguste from the diamond jewelery of 1782 would also have a special appeal: it is set with 51 large and 611 small cut diamonds. After all, smaller stones were much easier to sell than the famous pieces of jewelry as such.

Art investigators: “Stealing is easier than stopping”

When such well-known treasures are stolen, there is an old rule, explains art investigator Willi Korte: “Stealing is easier than putting it down.” He always saw the burglary as a jewel robbery rather than an art robbery. “I thought they would break out the jewels and sell them individually, not the art as a whole.”

In his estimation, the confiscated loot should at least have survived the time since the theft. “Since it’s mostly precious metal and stones, you don’t have to pay so much attention to the temperature,” said Korte. “I think things should still be in relatively good condition.”

The jewels stolen three years ago were secured in Berlin on Saturday night. Official information on the location and condition of the jewelry was not given with reference to the ongoing investigations.

Why did the Remmo clan return the loot?

Since the beginning of the year, a trial has been going on in Dresden against six young men, all of whom belong to the Remmo clan of Arabic origin from Berlin. One of the accused had already admitted in court that he was involved in the preparations but not in the coup itself. The next day of negotiations is next Tuesday.

Investigators have heard that the motivation for handing over the loot could have been the hope of a reduced sentence. According to BILD information from around the Remmo defense, the accused returned the pieces to the authorities through their lawyers. In return, there was “a deal with the prosecution, the details of which would then be discussed at the hearing on Tuesday”.

The million coup in the treasury

In the early morning of November 25, 2019, two men broke into the building in Dresden’s old town, punched holes in a display case with an ax and ripped out pieces of jewelry from the 17th and 18th centuries.

The broken display case contained the rose-cut diamond set, the set of brilliants as well as the diamond jewelery and the pearls of the queens (around 100 individual pieces).

The investigators are convinced that the coup is the work of the well-known Berlin Remmo clan, who are also responsible for crimes such as the theft of gold coins from the Bode Museum in 2017. They are said to have previously set fire to a power box near the castle and one of their getaway cars in the underground car park of a residential building.

In addition, the lattice of the entrance window to the museum on the ground floor had been cut through days before and then provisionally glued together – this went unnoticed because this area between the wall and the window is in a blind spot.