Editor’s Note
This article recounts the dramatic 2019 heist at Dresden’s Green Vault museum and the fortuitous circumstance that saved the historic “Green Diamond” from being stolen, as it was on loan abroad at the time.
Véritable trésor national, le Diamant vert aurait pu finir dans les mains de cambrioleurs lors d’un impressionnant braquage au musée de Dresde en 2019. Mais par un heureux hasard, la fameuse pierre se trouvait à ce moment-là à l’autre bout du monde.
It is around 5 a.m. on November 25, 2019, when burglars break into the “Green Vault” of the Dresden Museum in Germany. This former west wing of the Saxon Royal Palace, composed of four rooms painted in malachite green (hence its name), houses a unique artistic treasure in Europe of about 4,000 pieces assembled by the inhabitants of Saxony over the centuries, including precious stone ornaments and jewels inherited from the Renaissance.
That day, the heist leaves the people of Dresden in shock. In total, 21 pieces of jewelry and more than 4,300 diamonds are stolen, including the breast star of the Polish Order of the White Eagle, the White Diamond of Saxony, a 49-carat diamond, a brooch worn by Queen Amalie of Saxony made of 660 diamonds, and various pieces composed of diamonds, rubies, pearls, and other precious stones. Described as “impossible to estimate” due to the “priceless” cultural and historical value of the stolen items, the burglary was ultimately valued a few years later at around 113 million euros. This is not the first time the impressive collection has disappeared: in 1945, the Red Army seized it before returning it to Germany in 1958.
However, the heist could have been much worse. The centerpiece of the “Green Vault” collection, the Dresden Green Diamond, was at that time on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, on loan to the Museum of Modern Art in New York for an exhibition on the most beautiful objects from European courts. A journey that allowed it to avoid the drama, namely being cut into pieces and resold in complete anonymity.
Discovered in India in the Golconda province in 1722, the gem, a 40.70-carat green sapphire, reached the United Kingdom in 1726. It was then presented to King George, who showed no interest in it. The largest known green diamond in the world finally ended up in the hands of the King of Saxony, Frederick Augustus II, in 1741, after he repurchased it from a Jewish merchant in Leipzig. A year later, he had this stone historically cut into a brilliant and mounted on a badge of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Today, the Green Diamond is set in a hat ornament, a modification made by his successor and grandson, Frederick III of Saxony.
In addition to being the world’s most famous green diamond (an already extremely rare body color), the Dresden Green Diamond belongs to the rare Type IIa category, meaning it is “chemically pure” and “free of macroscopic inclusions,” according to the Swiss Journal of Watchmaking and Jewelry, which also describes the gem as having “extraordinary cut quality and remarkable proportions.” It remains today the largest cut diamond recorded with a natural green coloration. However, its rarity is not based on its size but rather on its color.
Regarding the rest of the loot, three years after the heist in December 2022, German authorities confirmed that a “considerable portion” of the objects had been found in Berlin. However, some of the jewelry remains incomplete or damaged today, with breaks or traces of rust. The Green Diamond, on the other hand, has traversed the centuries without losing quality or splendor.
