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Police in France are urgently trying to locate irreplaceable jewels stolen from the Paris museum in a brazen daytime heist, but experts have warned it might be past the point of recovery to save them.

At the heart of Paris over the weekend, 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 eight minutes.

International art investigator Arthur Brand told the BBC he suspects the artifacts are likely "dispersed", having been broken up into many fragments.

Experts suggest the pieces may be disposed of for a fraction of their worth and smuggled out of the country, additional specialists noted.

Potential Suspects Behind the Heist

The perpetrators are experienced criminals, according to the expert, as demonstrated by the speed with which they got through the museum of the Louvre with such efficiency.

"As you might expect, for regular people, people don't suddenly decide in the morning believing, I will become a burglar, choosing as first target the Louvre Museum," he said.

"This isn't their initial robbery," he continued. "They've carried out other burglaries. They feel certain and they believed, we could succeed with this, and proceeded."

As further evidence the skill of the gang is being taken seriously, a dedicated task force with a "proven effectiveness in cracking major theft cases" has been assigned with locating the perpetrators.

Police officials have said they suspect the heist relates to a criminal organization.

Criminal organizations like these generally have two primary purposes, French prosecutor the prosecutor stated. "Either they operate on behalf of a sponsor, or to obtain precious stones to perform financial crimes."

Mr Brand thinks it would be extremely difficult to market the jewels intact, and he said targeted robbery for an individual buyer represents a situation that mainly exists in movies.

"Nobody wants to touch an item so identifiable," he elaborated. "You can't display it to acquaintances, you cannot leave it to heirs, there's no market for it."

Potential £10m Worth

The expert thinks the stolen items are likely broken down and broken up, along with gold elements and precious metals liquefied and the gems cut up into less recognizable pieces that will be extremely difficult to trace back to the Louvre robbery.

Gemstone expert a renowned expert, host of the audio program If Jewels Could Talk and formerly worked as Vogue magazine's jewellery editor for two decades, told the BBC the robbers had "specifically chosen" the most important treasures from the Louvre's collection.

The "beautiful large perfect gems" will probably be extracted of their mountings and disposed of, she said, excluding the tiara belonging to the historical figure which has smaller stones set in it and was "too recognizable to possess," she explained.

This could explain why they left it behind as they got away, along with a second artifact, and recovered by police.

The royal crown that was taken, features exceptionally uncommon natural pearls which are incredibly valuable, experts say.

While the items are regarded as being priceless, the historian anticipates they to be sold for a small percentage of their value.

"They'll likely end up to buyers who is willing to handle these," she said. "Many people will seek for these – they will take what they can get."

How much exactly might they bring in money upon being marketed? Regarding the possible worth of the stolen goods, Mr Brand stated the dismantled components may amount to "multiple millions."

The jewels and removed precious metal might achieve up to a significant sum (€11.52m; millions in US currency), according to an industry expert, senior official of 77 Diamonds, a digital jewelry retailer.

The expert explained the perpetrators will require an experienced professional to separate the jewels, and a skilled stone worker to modify the more noticeable pieces.

Less noticeable gems that were harder to trace might be marketed right away and while it was hard to estimate the precise value of each piece removed, the more significant gems could be worth approximately half a million pounds per stone, he noted.

"We know there are at least four that large, so adding all of those together with the precious metal, one could estimate coming close to £10m," he stated.

"The jewelry and gemstone market is active and numerous purchasers exist on the fringes that avoid questioning about origins."

Hope persists that the artifacts might resurface undamaged one day – but those hopes are fading as the days pass.

Historical examples exist – the Cartier exhibition at the London museum features an artifact taken decades ago which eventually returned in a sale many years after.

Without doubt includes the French public are deeply shocked regarding the theft, having felt an emotional attachment to the jewels.

"We don't necessarily like jewellery since it represents a question of power, and this isn't typically carry positive associations within French culture," a heritage expert, head of heritage at Parisian jewelry house the historical business, explained