In 1968 after her death, it was bought at the then record auction price of $305,000 by Richard Burton for his wife Elizabeth Taylor. James George Reeves was an avid gambler and risk taker. We'd like to offer a good price for paving your driveway," he answered.Meanwhile, the crooks reconvened in Las Vegas, where it was decided that Mr. Reves would attempt to sale the jewel intact. The center stone was about the size of a marble. He found the diamond sewn into the lining of a sports jacket and turned it over to the agent in charge {4}.The Krupp Jewel Heist was big news in Nevada in the 1950s. The plan was to steal The Krupp Diamond. When two men broke into her ranch outside Las Vegas in 1959, they had to literally pry it off her finger, drawing blood. What was the big heist he had planned after all? The famous Krupp Diamond theft took place in 1959, when the stone was still owned by Vera Krupp. The Krupp Diamond was recovered by the FBI in 1959, in a Las Vegas heist carried out by four gunmen. Vera Krupp never took her 33-carat diamond ring off her finger. She loved the diamond and wore it proudly. Krupp Diamond Theft As diamond rings go, it was massive: the center blue-white stone weighed more than 33 carats and was roughly the size of a small marble. Within seconds they’d forced their way in, ripped the ring off Krupp’s finger (to the point of drawing blood) and tied the pair blindfolded back-to-back with wire from a lamp.Our attention was soon directed to John William Hagenson , a fugitive wanted in connection with a similar robbery in California. After blindfolding their victims and tying them back to back with the cord of a nearby lamp, the crooks walked away with $700,00 in cash and $340,000 in jewels {2; 4}.According to Special Agent Bert Stickler, a thorough search was made of the hotel room without any luck. All her self-assurance must have leaked out as she watched them handcuff her foreman while they tied her up.She must have cried out in pain and anguish as they forcibly ripped the Krupp jewel off her finger, causing her to bleed. On its shoulders rest two baguette diamonds set horizontally. Since the pockets had already been searched, Agent Stickler decided to run his hands over every inch of material he could get his hands on.
He writes that he decided to search a closet filled with clothes one last time. An attractive woman named Vera Krupp, an American baroness of sorts who’d come into a ton of money when she married—and later divorced—a wealthy German industrialist. It took another six weeks for word to reach the agents in Newark about a local grocer trying to pawn a large diamond in Elizabeth. To keep a low profile, Mr. Reves and his wife checked into a motel in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where they made arrangements to meet a man named Julius Berger.He is reported to have taken notice of the ring during one of Ms. Krupp's visits to town. Their only option was to drive 24 miles to the airport for help. Established in 1811 by Friedrich Krupp, the company was the fir… She and her foreman were finishing dinner when three men knocked on the door offering to blacktop her long driveway. It would certainly be less upkeep, and money certainly wasn't a huge issue. This gorgeous stone is a 33.19-carat Asscher cut diamond mounted in a Harry Winston platinum band. The FBI was brought in on the case immediately {2}.A tip in Miami set Mr. Reves on a course toward Newark, New Jersey. A raid of the Cadillac Motel, where Reves and his wife were staying, was arranged, six weeks after the initial theft, by Special Agent in Charge William Simon of the Newark FBI {4}. Who could blame her?All that changed the evening of April 10, 1959, on her sprawling ranch about twenty-six miles southwest of Las Vegas. The access to this safety zone was hidden behind a few of the wood panels on her bedroom wall.