Paris Louvre Jewels Heist

[Enchanted_Elixir]

On 10/24/2025 at 10:27 AM, vinapu said:

beautiful useless things.

Painting at least can cover crack or hole in the wall

I get the instinct. Fabergé eggs feel like beauty weaponised by wealth. But beauty isn’t owned by oligarchs. It is a school for the senses, and the poor deserve admission first.

Think of a flat with a cracked wall, a rickety table, a kettle on. Hang a small painting. Lay a clean cloth. Light a candle. These are not distractions from material need. They are forms that teach attention, patience, and care. Form educates desire before slogans do. If you want solidarity, start with a room that makes friendship easy.

I’m no defender of luxury baubles. Craft over spectacle. A hand-thrown mug, a well-mended coat, a parish banner carried through the estate on a feast day. These “useless” things are in fact useful. They bind a street. They tutor the gaze. They make fidelity imaginable.

The market sells us décor as mood. But common life needs «liturgy». Weekly meals, shared tools, a wall everyone helps repaint, a mural the children touch up each term. Beauty becomes a public good when it shows up in durable forms that ordinary people can use and keep.

[Enchanted_Elixir]

On 10/21/2025 at 9:58 AM, PeterRS said:

Not just any old pieces, either. These were to all intents and purposes the royal jewels of France. Just eight pieces, but of almost incalculable value. One crown is set with 2i2 pearls and 3,000 diamonds!

Just to provide some context, most of the Crown Jewels of France no longer exist. Taken apart during the 1790s, the remaining ones purposefully destroyed by the republican government after 1870 as a response to the conflict with the royalist factions. So unless returned, the materials from that era gone forever.

[PeterRS]

5 hours ago, Enchanted_Elixir said:

Just to provide some context, most of the Crown Jewels of France no longer exist. Taken apart during the 1790s, the remaining ones purposefully destroyed by the republican government after 1870 as a response to the conflict with the royalist factions. So unless returned, the materials from that era gone forever.

Agreed, but you are talking about the jewels which beonged to the Bourbon Dynasty whose King and Queen were executed during the Revolution. The jewels which were stolen essentially belonged to women directly related to the later rulers of France who had been crowned Emperors. To all intents and purposes they were French royalty in the 19th century and their extant jewels can be called as most commentators have done crown jewels. Athough there are subtle differences between the two titles, in this case there was little difference, I believe, between the nomenclature of King and Emperor.