On Wednesday, a group of thieves broke into the Green Vault in Dresden, Germany. At last count, reporters said that the thieves made off with about a billion dollars’ worth of jewels. (Why they would advertise this to the thieves is beyond me.)

As the BBC reports, the loot was made up of jewelry and regalia mostly created under the rule of Saxony’s Augustus the Strong and included a diamond incrusted sword and several diamond brooches. Luckily, two of the museum’s most prized pieces, the green 41-carat Dresden diamond is loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and 648-carat sapphire ring from Russia’s Tsar Peter the Great, were spared.

Still, the loss is immeasurable, and I’m not just talking about the jewels. There’s an immense amount of historical and cultural significance to these items. They tell us about the rulers, trade routes and the personal and political relationships between nations. Yes, the carat size and worth of the jewels is incredible, but it’s about what they represent to the country.

England has a similar problem, although their loss occurred centuries ago when Oliver Cromwell and other anti-monarchy fanatics melted down most of the British crown jewels. The only piece that survived the purge of royal regalia was the 11th-century coronation spoon. As a result, despite the current monarchy being nearly 1,000 years old, most of the coronation jewels and items were created after the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II in 1660.

The Irish crown jewels were also stolen on July 6, 1907 and have never been seen again. Although not much in comparison with some other monarchies, the collection most notably included a jeweled star and badge. It’s likely that the jewels were recut, and the metal melted down in order to sell.

Authorities fear that this is likely what will happen with these German treasures as well. But the thieves may find that the billion-dollar estimate is vastly overestimated. After all, to avoid the authorities ever discovering their crime the metal must be melted down and the jewels recut, which will drastically reduce their value.

That’s an act of historic retribution.

There may be an unscrupulous buyer or two out there for these treasures but selling the jewels in their original form will raise suspicions and would be easily traceable. Of course, that’s an immense loss of history and culture. There’s hope that the Saxony regalia will somehow turn up on the market in its original form at some point, but that could take decades or centuries. (The Mona Lisa was eventually returned after it was stolen, although it was taken by a man who appreciated its historical significance.)

This episode will likely lead many museums with large jewelry collections to review their security procedures, as they should. Although it is impossible to avoid theft attempts, it seems like this crime was pulled off with a fair amount of ease. Hopefully, the authorities will be able to find these criminals and thugs.

It’s one thing to be a thief, it’s another thing entirely to steal a country’s cultural heritage in pursuit of the almighty dollar, or euro in this instance. Money is fleeing, but culture and history can last forever.