The 1792 Theft of the Crown Jewels

In September 1792, over five nights, thieves broke into the Garde-Meuble and stole thousands of France's Crown Jewels.  

Of course, there is the “Heist of the Century” that hit the Musée du Louvre on October 19, 2025, but it pales in comparison to the 1792 theft.   

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Bonjour, bonjour, and welcome to a new episode of Paris in Blue, Blanc, Rouge with Claudine Hemingway. That is me. And we're already at episode 35. Feels like just yesterday I started this, but it always almost feels like Christmas at the same time. So today I wanted to share a story with you about the heist of the crown jewels. And I know what you're thinking. No, it is not the one that happened last year. Almost a whole year ago now. In September of 1792, over five nights, thieves broke into the Garde de Moubl and stole hundreds, if not thousands, of France's crown jewels. There is, of course, what is deemed the heist of the century that hit the Musee de Louvre on October 19th, 2025, but that pales in comparison to this, which was the heist of the 18th century. The royal family of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were hunted down within the walls of Versailles on October 5th, 1789, and brought to Paris. They were taken from the lap of one luxury to another. The first two years equated to house arrest within the Palais de Tuileries. With one big difference, they weren't allowed to adorn themselves with jewels. I mean, that really is prison. Many stories from the last hundred years depict a panicked Marie Antoinette packing away her diamonds and being sent around Europe to family members or taken by trusty aides to London. Most of these stories were created to sell items that came up at auction to drive up the price. Just read the fine print, where it usually says these might have been owned by the queen. There are a few accounts of jewels passed to her daughter, Madame Royale, through a family in Austria, but she is, like the Mona Lisa, the ultimate clickbait. The crown jewels were owned by the state, and the king or queen could redesign the settings and wear them, but they never belonged to them. While we recall the jewels stolen last October, the crown jewels, only one of the eight pieces can actually be considered a crown jewel, the reliquary brooch of Empress Eugenie, because it included two of the Mazarin diamonds. The jewels were also kept locked away until they were used. Sadly, the fantasy of a queen rolling around in pile of diamonds and dripped in jewels wouldn't have happened. After the 1789 demise of the royal couple, the massive collection was moved to the Garde de Moubla in the center of Paris and locked away. The Garde Moubla at the edge of the Place de la Coco Corde held the state furniture used in the many palaces and official buildings and was overseen by Marc-Antony Thierry de Ville d'Avry. The once valet to the king and the mayor of the town of Versailles was named in 1783 as the intendant of the king's household, overseeing everything that filled the palace. A job that not only managed a collection of furniture, but also gave him the power to commission and order furniture that would fill the royal structures, a position that came with great wealth. The imposing structure built under Louis XV on the northern edge of the Place de la Concorde was created by An Jacques Gabriel in 1753. The two matching buildings on either side of the Rue Royale. On the west, the Hotel Crayon and the Automobile Club of France sits there today. And the building to the east was built for the function of holding the collection of the crown. It was far from a warehouse when it was finished in 1777. It featured lavish rooms where the intendant also lived. Once a month the doors opened to the public, a fact they may later regret. On the first Tuesday of each month from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., visitors could wander through and see the great tapestries, furniture, and even the crown jewels. After the crowds attacked the Chateau de Versailles on October 5th, 1789, the keepers of the crown goods were on high alert. Even the mere representation of items that belonged to the monarchy became an even bigger lightning rock for controversy. The first attack came the day before the storming of the Bestie. Rioters looking for weapons were diverted away from the rooms that held the most valuable treasures, the swords, and even a cannon that belonged to Louis XIV. After the royal family's attempted escape, known as the Flight de Varin, on June 21st, many thought Marie Antoinette had taken jewels, precious items, and gold to help pay for their escape and to keep them for their own use. She was blamed for everything. The convention said it decree that the Garde Mouble and the entire royal collection need to be inventory, thinking they would catch her red-handed. At 9 a.m. on June 25th, Deputy Jean-Marie Billon, along with the goldsmith and jewelers, began the massive task of inventory the entire collection, a project that took until August 3rd. Most of the jewels were loose and kept in satin lined glass top boxes. The number of gems were at least 10,000 and included diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, pearls, topaz, garnets, amethysts, and more. There were, of course, collections that included the golden fleece of Louis XV and diamond covered Order of the Holy Spirit, as well as swords that belonged to Louis XV and Louis XVI. Along with the jewels of precious vases known as the hard stone vessels and crystal were also counted. Until the theft of the jewels on October 2025, many of these gorgeous pieces were held in the Gallery d'Apallon. More than 500 objects made from lapis lazuli, jasper, amber, jade, garnet, and many other were mounted with pearls, diamonds, rubies, and emeralds. They were created in the 16th and 17th century. Most of them were owned by Cardinal Mazarin and left to Louis XIV after his death. The collections of jewels and precious vases was astronomically valued and the greatest in all of Europe at the time. These items were put out on display once a week for the people to wander in and even case the joint. In the months before the theft, Thierry de Ville d'Avray was a man holding down the job and following the demise of the royal couple, he remained in his role. His position included an apartment within the Garde Mouble. His office has been recreated in the Hotel de la Marie today for you to see. On june twentieth, 1792, two months before the theft, he had taken all the jewels and hid them in the end of a forgotten corridor where they were remained for a month, but they should have kept them there. Thierry wouldn't live to see the theft of the jewels. He was killed in the September massacre in the Abbey prison on September 2nd. It was in another prison, La Force, where the plan to steal the jewels was formed and the brainchild of career criminal Paul Miette. It was at the time of the massacre on the other side of the Seine that he found his freedom. Security at the time was pretty lax. Well, not much better than it is these days, but back to 1792. The jewels were kept in a room near the Logia entrance, just above the street. The windows and doors had been sealed shut, and you guessed it, no bars on the window. Artist Jean Bernard Restoux replaced Thierry after his death and immediately focused on security. The building had two entrances, one at the Place de la Concorde and the other one on the Rue Saint-Florentin where the staff came in. Restoux complained to the Minister of the Interior, Jean-Marie Roland, about a lack of guards and the entrance frequently left unguarded. Roland told him to submit a report any time he found the door without a guard. Restou responded that that would fill his entire day if he had to do that. Many of the rooms had been sealed shut for protection and had no need to be covered by security. On the evening of September 11, 1792, just after 11 PM, Palmiette and his merry gang of thieves descended into the center of the city. In the dark of night, two groups totaling 26 people split between the standing guard below and those who entered the building. The thieves dressed as guards, and at the start, six of the men, including Palmiet, climbed the facade below the loggia door. The lampposts were much closer to the building at the time, and they used a rope to help them enter quickly. Once they were on the loggia, they cut into the glass with a glazier's diamond blade. With a small saw, they then cut a square hole into the wood blind, allowing them to reach the handle and easily open the window. The windows were without iron bars and security hadn't been concerned since they believed the rooms were sealed shut. It was very easy since Miet had been visiting for a few months, noting every detail of the room, cases, and more importantly, the windows. Once inside, the dozen or so thieves grabbed some of the biggest items, the sword of Louis XVI covered in diamonds, a bag of loose diamonds, and full sets of diamonds and colored stones. One of the most notable items stolen that night was an insignia known as the Golden Fleece. The Order of the Golden Fleece was a distinguished title that first started in 1430 from the Duke de Bourgogne. Louis XIV took it up a notch when he had a large emblem created in diamonds and colored stones, including one of the original crown jewels that dates back to Francois Primier, the Cote de Bretagne, a raspberry red spinel stone cut into a dragon and a blue diamond known as the Tavernet Blue. Some say that blue diamond is cursed. However, the thieves knew what they were doing as the value of these pieces alone was incredible. That night they also grabbed strings of pearls of all sizes, diamond shoe buckles, and a dozen golden watches. A few of the thieves had traveled from Rouen to Paris that day, including Cadet Guillot, known as Lordoner, a rather crafty crook, and brought three of his friends with him. It was Guillot who took the golden fleece and the most important pieces and left the next morning to return to the coast with the jewels in hand. The next day the thieves met back in Paris, divided the jewels, and remarked on how easy the theft had been. Not a single guard was spotted inside or outside of the building. They decided to return the next evening, just before midnight on September 13th, with a few more thieves in tow. They followed the same route, up the facade, into the window, and then broke a large chest that held many of the largest stones, including one of the most important of all, the regent diamond. The 140.64 carat slightly blue-green water regent dates back to the time of Philippe d'Orléans, the regent of Louis XV, and was first worn by the king in 1721 when he was just 11 years old. Other diamonds stolen that day include the Sency, the Duguise, the large table cut mirror of Portugal diamond, the peach blossom pink diamond, and the five-sided pink diamond, later known as the Hortensia, and historic Mazarin diamonds, along with a dozen of other large stones. It was becoming easier and easier, and word was spreading through the thieving underworld, and they returned once again on the evening of the 15th. During the day, a few members would visit the area but never saw any police or evidence that their crime had been uncovered. In the early hours of September 16th, many of the thieves met on the banks of the Seine below the Palais Bourbon after they left the scene of the crime. In the dark they split up the jewels but were startled by two walkers and fled quickly, leaving a box behind. The gentlemen known as Le Blonde and Le Lou noticed the box and grabbed it. Inside they found two yellow diamonds, one clear diamond, and seven large pearls, as well as a few others scattered in the dirt. Unsure if they were real or worth anything, they took the box the next day to the goldsmith Vitar on the Pont Saint Michel. Vitar found the discovery strange and alarming and told them to go to the nearby police station and speak with the Commissioner Pierre Nicolas Letelier. The whole gang now headed back to the place of discovery in the light of day and found a few rubies cast aside. Between the locations and what they found, Letelier took the gems to the Gard Mouble and spoke with the head guard. Quickly dismissing the idea that the gems could have come from there, he told him that the doors had been sealed. Letelier convinced him to double check, and they found the doors had in fact been sealed. Everyone but the commissioner believed they had come from the Tuileries and been stolen on August 10th, 1792. Letelier alerted the other goldsmith and jewelers of Paris to watch for any unknown or suspicious jewels, especially larger ones. If only they had opened the sealed door. The Ragtag group, bolstered by the arrogance of pulling off this crime three separate times, would meet at the Cafe Retour on the Rue de Fossay Saint Germain Lacsawar to recount the crime and separate their goodies, none of which they did quietly. The last night of the crime, late on the sixteenth, now came with more than fifty people, including a few women. Drunk on the thrill of the moment as well as the wine they brought along with sausages, cheese, and baguettes. That night they took it all. Anything that remained was grabbed and put into their thieving pockets, but it wouldn't end as smoothly as the other nights had. Maybe it was a wine, but the crowd that remained below were whooping it up like it was a return of Les Bleuses after the 2018 World Cup win. This time it got the attention of a National Guardsman a block away on the Rue Saint Honore. Quickly stepping his way over, the crowd began to run. Inside, the thieves began to descend to the ground right into the National Guardsmen. Two thieves, Chambon and Duleny, were arrested on the spot and when searched, were found with jewels and many hardstone vessels of Jasper and Jade, as well as a solid gold cross with emeralds and topaz. A few of the larger items, included the ship of Louis XIV, were left on the logia, interrupted by the arrival of the National Guardsmen. Their arrests began to unravel the entire crime. While the rest of the thieves now worried about their own arrest, they attempted to sell off the jewels. Remember our police commissioner, Pierre Nicolas Latelier, who just three days before believed they had a massive crime on their hands and alerted all the jewelers in the goldsmith to be on the lookout? Well, most of the thieves, especially the ones who broke in the first three nights, were no strangers to authority. Claude Melacor Cotier, a thief who had acquired many of the jewels, had also talked about it with anyone he came across and began to worry he was about to be caught and wanted to get rid of this booty as soon as possible. Another crook, Lamay Evette, wasn't involved in the theft itself but feared returning to prison. He offered to help fence the diamonds if it was dealt in on the prophets. His worry got the best of him and he told his mistress about the plan. Madame Corbin was also the mistress of the mayor of Paris, Jerome Petillon de Villeneuve, and passed on a deal from Lamy to get a complete pardon for his help in finding the thieves. The goldsmith Gerbu was also in on the plan and ready to take down the thieves. Corbet and Lamy entered the shop and presented a bag of more than sixty diamonds of all sizes. Offering him a substantial amount of money, he gave him a portion of the cash and told him to return the next day for the balance, and if he had any more gems, bring those. Cote must have thought he hit the jackpot, and it was a fairly easy transaction. Meanwhile, Gerbaud took the diamonds to Jean-Marie Rollin, Minister of the Interior, who reimbursed him the money as well as giving him more to keep the shrey going. He also gave the goldsmith the power to arrest the thieves on the spot. On September 19th, the thief, the soon-to-be-parton fencer, and the goldsmith dined together. Our ever trustee commissioner L'Etelier arrived just after the cheese course to arrest the thief and take back the jewels. In a turn of events, Cote also decided to offer his help in finding more of the jewels if he was also granted a pardon. Now Letelier had two buddies to help him track down the stolen jewels. The group visited the homes and cafes where they would gather, and one by one the thieves were discovered and rounded up. Word spread quickly, not just about the hunt for the thieves, but also about the deal that Cote and Lame received. However, this was 1792, things spread a lot more slowly than they do now. Cote and Lame became vigilante detectives and took it upon themselves to find all the fellow thieves, even surpassing the Telier. They compiled a full list of names of every thief they knew. On September 26th, they complained that not enough had been done to arrest and capture the culprits, but Commissioner El Lizar disagreed and in turn arrested the two men who had originally been pardoned. Once they searched Cotet's apartment, they found the diamond shoebuckles of Louis XVI, not quite the selfless avengers he portrayed himself to be. After the arrest, the thieves kept turning on each other, and this wasn't the mastermind crew led by Danny Ocean, just a bunch of crooks in the right place in what ended up being the wrong time. The first two arrested, Duenny and Chambon, were pulled before a judge on September 21st and charged with a conspiracy to overthrow the government and theft. With the threat of a death sentence hanging over their heads, they started to cough up a bit more information. More arrests followed, including two more leaders, Duberin and Batterelle, who also told the authorities where some of the loot was hidden. In the small Allais de Veuve off the Champs-Élysées, a box was buried by a fellow thief, Guillaume, that included pearls, emeralds, rubies, onyx, solid gold figurine, as well as a hundred and four diamonds. By mid-October, most of the trials and sentences were coming to an end. Many were going to return to the Place de la Revolution, today's Concorde, this time for a date with a guillotine. As Francois Dubrin mounted the stairs, he pleaded to speak with the judge one more time and said he had information on where some of the larger diamonds could be found. Dubrin took the police to a small apartment on the Coul de Sec Saint Apartoune near Saint-Germain-Laxaroire. Reaching through the skylight over his bathroom, he pulled down two packages, including the peach flower diamonds, the Grand Mazarin, and a pink five-panel 15 carat diamond, the Hortensia, the most important find yet. Cotet, who thought he got away with everything and gardened a pardon, was before the judge on November 7, 1792. In the end, he was tried for the crimes he thought he was cleared of, mostly because his greed took over and he had kept the stolen diamond buckles of Louis XVI. He met his fate the next day, November 8, 1792, with the guillotine. As for the ringleader of the entire caper, Paul Miette, he was arrested at the start of October after Dulany's confession. At his trial on November 20th, he was sentenced to death but was able to find a loophole. That same month, the Court of Cassations was established, and Miet, along with many of the criminals, could appeal their convictions. Seven of the men agreed to the role in their theft, but stated in no way were they trying to overthrow the government. All of them were acquitted and escaped the death sentence, but would spend several years in prison. Months passed without any new discoveries of the crown jewels, but in April 1793, one of the most important jewels still to this day was found. The Regency Diamond was discovered hiding in the home of Madame More and her sister, Lelivere, a mistress of one of the men who broke into the guard Mublet the first night and returned to Rouen. Bernard Salas had been already greeted with the guillotine, and his lovers had been locked away as well. The legend of the Regent Diamond, or the Pit Diamond, as it was originally called, was that a worker in an Indian mine dug a wound in his thigh, dug it deeper, making it large enough to conceal the massive diamond under his bandage and use it for what he would hope be his freedom. The regent was found in 1793, hidden in a hole, dug in a timber beam in the attic, adding even more to the legend of the regent. In March 1794, more of the large stones were recovered, including the Censy, the Mirror of Portugal, the Mazarins, and the De Guise Diamond. Other items found included the diamond encrusted Order of the Saint Esprit. Good portion of the stones were found, but not everything. In the days after the theft, many jewelers used it to their advantage, buying as many jewels as possible in below market prices and sending them off to Germany and London. Quite a few stones found their way to Louis XVIII, then in exile. Howe is still greatly unknown, but he did return the crown collection in what he thought was a grand moment of sacrifice. There is one of the jewels that was stolen on the very first night that you might just notice that had a deeper history. Claudio and his merry gang of Rouen men nabbed the golden fleece that I mentioned, which includes the red spinel Cota Britannia, a 32 carat bazoo diamond, as well as a 69 karat blue diamond worth three million livres at the time, which converted to a ton of money. Guillot headed to La Harve and jumped on a ship to London with a golden fleece hidden inside his jacket. He removed each stone, visited a few stores looking for buyers, and was quite successful. The blue diamond was recut to 45 carats, and you know it today as the Hope Diamond in the Smithsonian Institute in DC. As for what was stolen, what we still have today, it is very little. A bulk of what was returned was sold in the sale of the crown jewels in 1887. Check out episode 19 for more of that. All but one of the surviving pieces of the crown jewels of 1792 that were once held in the Gallery d'Apalon escaped the theft of October 19, 2025. They were placed in the farthest case that the thieves didn't even touch, thankfully. The Regent Diamond, one of the most historic of all the remaining jewels, as well as a Soule Diamond, once known as the Mazarin one, survived the 1792 theft, but was later given to Madrid by the directory under Napoleon, then found its way to William Waldorf Astor, and it was eventually purchased by the Louvre in 1976. The five sided pink Hortensia diamond, as well as a diamond covered plaque of the Order of San Esprit, are quite impressive, but a few others might not be as sparkly, but are very impressive. The Polish Eagle that dates to 1640 includes a large garnet in the center of the breast of the eagle, as well as 149 small rubies, an emerald, a pearl drop, and enameled details in white, blue, and black. It once hung on a chain around a teapot because even your porcelain deserves jewelry when you're the king of France. Stolen in 1792, it was discovered and then stolen again from the Louvre on July 29, 1830, during the Three Glorious Days, but luckily returned in 1832. And last but not least, the red spinel cote de Bretagne, once often overlooked, but the most important, even more so than the regent. When Francois Primier established a designation of the crown jewels on June 15, 1530, one of the eight items included this piece. The spinel once belonged to the family of his wife, Claude de France, who was a daughter of Anna Brittany, who received it from her mother, Marguerite de Foix. The spinel stone is sometimes called the mother of the ruby. The red hues vary, but the dragon spinnel of the lube is a darker and raspberry colored. That is also a bit softer than a ruby. A majority of what we thought are rubies in the 16th century could in fact be spinners. Louis XV had his jeweler, Jacques Guillet, turn it into a dragon to be placed in the golden fleece that was stolen by Claude Chiot in 1791. The shape made it very difficult to sell, and he asked fellow crook Loncris de Loyelle to attempt to find a buyer. Loncry turned the tables on him and had him arrested. Even while in jail, he kept trying to find someone through the prison network to buy the piece. Ward eventually reached Louis XVIII through his general Danegin and the devout royalist who was looking for a little extra favor for what he hoped to be a returned king. The spinel was handed over to Louis XVIII, which he kept in his personal collection until his death, and the government returned it to its place in the Crown Jewel collection. Today these jewels are locked away in the bank until a new, more secure place could be created within the Louvre, which will take many, many years. As for the Garde Moubla, it became the Hotel de la Marine and the French Navy's head office in 1799. Much of the collection of furniture, carpets, and tapestries that filled the Garde Moubla was dispersed to the Musee de Louvre, Musee des Arts Decoratif, and what is today's Mobilier National. On June 10, 2021, the Hotel de la Marine was open to the public after 10 years of discussion and restoration. You could visit it today, and it's a must if you're in Paris. It is open seven days a week, and the GPS headphone guided tour is fantastic and walks you through the many chapters that the historic structure has lived through. From the theft of the crown jewels to its front row seat to the guillotine and death of the king and queen to the liberation to Paris that fought below the windows. And they even left the window shade just as it was after the theft. It's the last window on the left. So if you haven't been to this museum, it is fantastic. I recommend to my clients when I plan their trips to Paris, if you don't have time to go to Versailles, go here because it does have beautiful, beautiful rooms that are decorated with many of the pieces that might have once been there. It is absolutely fantastic. If you listen to every single word of the GPS headphone guide, it's about an hour and a half. And trust me, I go and listen to every single word, and I probably go every couple months. They do also have the Altene space in there that is owned and a gift from the Alteny family. Last year they had the jewels, the dynastic jewels, which was, oh my God, incredible. Right now it's about the exhibit they have now is like animals and different kinds of art going back, you know, thousands of years. But it's really fantastic. You need two different tickets for that. But I definitely recommend going and get your ticket at least, you know, look a couple days in advance to get your tickets. But it is fantastic. It is right there at the Place de la Concorde, and I just love it because they actually mentioned the theft in the audio guide. But I go all the time. In fact, I'm gonna go again this week. So if check it out if you're there. But this theft, this really was a doozy. But it I want to find even more about some of the things that were taken. And some of the ones like the Mirror of Portugal was this huge square, like very, very square cut diamond, gorgeous, that was sold out in 1887. But they also had at that time what was stolen was this rectangular, like cube sapphire, like literally cut like a block, like you would have a building block when you were a kid. And they it's we still have it. It is at the Natural History Museum. And when I went back in, I think it was December, it's not on display. None of the crown jewels in the different places are on display, but I should check now that it's almost been a year. But just before I started recording today, I saw there was a theft at the Renoir Museum in the south of France, that is at where his old house is. And the themes broke in at like 5:30 in the morning and stole four paintings. Two of them they ditched in the garden, but they have two of them. And just last week, I think it was last week or two weeks ago, a necklace was stolen that once belonged to this, I think it was an Egyptian queen, not as old as like you know many thousands of centuries ago. But it was also recently stolen, not in not in Paris, thankfully. But these are just getting to be happening more and more and more. And honestly, after telling you this whole story, there's really not much has changed security-wise between 1792 and 2026. So thank you guys so much for joining me today. If you're coming to Paris, reach out and book a walking tour. A lot of the locations mentioned in here that of, you know, the thieves' homes and the tavern and stuff, those streets are all gone, but they were mostly all around the church at Saint-Germain-L'Asaroir. But if you want to do a tour, walking tour in Paris and check out some of these places where they would have been, reach out and book a tour. Or if you need help planning your trip to Paris, also reach out, and I would love to help you with that. I'm doing quite a few of them right now. So thank you guys so much, and I'll be in tow and talk to you next week.