A day after burglars made off with priceless jewels from a German museum, pressure is growing on police to find the culprits. One big reason: The diamond-encrusted dagger, pearl necklace, and dozens of other glittering artifacts—estimated to be worth more than $1 billion by the local press—were uninsured.
The German state of Saxony, the owner of the
Green Vault museum in the eastern city of Dresden, carried no insurance on the jewels, standard practice because the premiums typically exceed potential damages in the long-term, the state Finance Ministry said Tuesday.
While public museums usually insure works of art that are loaned to other institutions, they often don’t take out policies on their permanent collections, according to Julia Ries, head of fine art and jewelry at insurer Ergo Group AG.
