Austrian authorities are conducting an international manhunt after two men stole a platinum necklace set with 673 diamonds from the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) in Vienna during opening hours on Thursday, August 27, 2026.
The thieves entered the museum as ordinary visitors after purchasing tickets. They were not wearing masks and were clearly captured on surveillance cameras. Once inside the temporary exhibition “Glanzstücke” (Masterpieces), which features more than 300 works by the French jewelry house Van Cleef & Arpels alongside pieces from the museum’s collection, the men smashed a glass display case with a hammer, seized the necklace, and fled on foot toward the nearby Stadtpark. One suspect is believed to have been carrying a firearm. No one was injured, though several visitors were present in the room at the time.
The stolen piece is a platinum collerette designed by Van Cleef & Arpels in 1939 for Egypt’s royal family. It is set with 673 diamonds totaling more than 200 carats (approximately 204 carats according to the jeweler’s records) and is described by Van Cleef & Arpels as a “triumph of white jewellery.” Queen Nazli (second wife of King Fuad I and mother of King Farouk and Princess Fawzia) wore the necklace at the 1939 wedding in Cairo of her daughter Princess Fawzia to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, then Crown Prince of Iran and later Shah. The necklace sold at Sotheby’s New York in 2015 for approximately $4.3 million, with pre-sale estimates ranging from $3.6 million to $4.6 million.
The exhibition, which opened in June and was scheduled to run until September 27, includes roughly 500 objects. The MAK confirmed the theft but declined further comment while the investigation is ongoing. The Vienna State Criminal Police Office is leading the probe, with forensic analysis of evidence and CCTV underway. Police have released images of the suspects, deployed dog units, and expanded the search nationally and internationally. The necklace has been added to INTERPOL’s Stolen Works of Art database.
This incident is the highest-value art theft in Vienna since the 2003 theft of Benvenuto Cellini’s Saliera and forms part of a recent series of high-profile museum jewelry heists in Europe.