German police recover some of the loot stolen in a 2019 art theft

German police have recovered a ‘significant’ part of the jewelery sets stolen three years ago in a sensational art theft from the Grünes Gewölbe museum in Dresden. The authorities of the Land of Saxony, where Dresden is located, announced this on Saturday. The sets were seized in Berlin overnight from Friday to Saturday.

These are 31 documents recovered, of which “a certain number” seem complete. It is not known how many of the stolen items are currently lost or damaged. The sets found will first be examined by forensic scientists and then by art experts. It is not known how the German authorities found the documents.

The theft of art from the Dresden Green Vault, the so-called “treasure of Dresden”, took place in November 2019. Thieves managed to get their hands on a series of sets of jewelry from the 18th century. The financial value of the coins remained uncertain, although experts said the value was primarily artistic and cultural-historical in nature. If gemstones – such as diamonds, rubies and sapphires – were separated from sets to be sold individually, that value would be lost.

Saxony’s interior minister, Roland Wöller, said at the time that the theft was “an attack on Saxony’s cultural identity”. Almost a year after the robbery, German police managed to arrest three suspects. Before that, more than 1,600 officers raided various locations. It is also unclear if the suspects informed the police about the sets.