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French authorities are urgently trying to retrieve extremely valuable jewels taken from the Paris museum in a daring daytime heist, although specialists are concerned it might be too late to save them.

Within the French capital this past Sunday, robbers broke into the world's most-visited museum, making off with eight precious artifacts before escaping via motor scooters in a daring heist that was completed in just minutes.

International art investigator a renowned specialist told the BBC he believes the jewels could be "already dismantled", having been broken up into hundreds of parts.

There is a strong chance the stolen jewels may be disposed of for a small part of their true price and smuggled out of France, additional specialists noted.

Potential Suspects Behind the Theft

The thieves acted professionally, according to the expert, shown by the speed with which they got in and out of the Louvre in record time.

"As you might expect, for regular people, you don't wake up overnight thinking, I will become a thief, let's start with the Louvre," he noted.

"This likely isn't the first time they've done this," he added. "They have done things before. They are confident and they believed, it might work out with this plan, and went for it."

Additionally demonstrating the expertise of the gang is being taken seriously, a specialist police unit with a "strong track record in resolving significant crimes" has been tasked with locating the perpetrators.

Law enforcement have stated they suspect the robbery is connected to an organised crime network.

Organised crime groups such as these typically have two main goals, legal official a senior official said. "Either they operate on behalf of a financier, or to acquire expensive jewelry to conduct money laundering operations."

The detective suggests it seems impossible to market the jewels as complete pieces, and he said stealing-to-order for a private collector is a scenario that mainly exists in movies.

"Nobody wants to acquire an artifact so identifiable," he explained. "You can't display it publicly, it cannot be passed to heirs, there's no market for it."

Estimated £10m Price Tag

Mr Brand believes the objects will be dismantled and disassembled, including the gold and silver components melted and the precious stones re-cut into less recognizable pieces that would be extremely difficult to connect to the Paris heist.

Gemstone expert Carol Woolton, who presents the audio program focusing on gemstones and was Vogue magazine's jewellery editor for two decades, told the BBC the thieves had "cherry-picked" the most valuable gemstones from the museum's holdings.

The "impressively sized perfect gems" will probably be removed from their settings and disposed of, she explained, excluding the headpiece of the French empress which features less valuable pieces set in it and was "too hot to possess," she continued.

This potentially clarifies why they left it behind during the escape, together with another piece, and recovered by police.

The imperial headpiece that disappeared, has rare organic pearls which have a very large value, specialists confirm.

Although the artifacts have been described as being priceless, the expert anticipates they will be disposed of for a small percentage of their value.

"They'll likely end up to buyers who are prepared to acquire such items," she said. "Many people will seek for the stolen goods – they'll settle for whatever price is offered."

What specific amount might they bring as payment when disposed of? When asked about the potential value of the haul, the detective said the dismantled components could be worth "several million."

The precious stones and gold stolen could fetch up to ten million pounds (millions in euros; millions in US currency), says a jewelry specialist, managing director of an established company, an online jeweller.

He stated the thieves must have an experienced professional to extract the stones, and an expert gem cutter to modify the bigger identifiable gems.

Less noticeable gems that were not easily identifiable would be disposed of immediately and although difficult to estimate the specific worth of every gem taken, the larger ones may amount to around £500,000 per stone, he said.

"We know there are no fewer than four that large, therefore combining all those pieces along with the precious metal, one could estimate coming close to £10m," he said.

"The jewelry and precious stone industry has buyers and numerous purchasers exist within gray markets that avoid questioning about origins."

There are hopes that the stolen goods might resurface intact in the future – although such expectations are diminishing with each passing day.

Historical examples exist – a jewelry display at the London museum includes an artifact previously stolen that later resurfaced in a sale much later.

Definitely is many in France feel profoundly disturbed about the museum robbery, having felt an emotional attachment with the artifacts.

"There isn't always value gems because it's a matter concerning authority, and this isn't typically receive favorable interpretation within French culture," a jewelry authority, director of historical collections at French jeweller Maison Vever, explained