Vix Torque

History Fix News # 2: The Theft of the Ancient Vix Torque Necklace Robs Us of Much More Than Its Weight In Gold

The Vix Torque, recently stolen from a museum in Burgundy, France

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We all know about the Louvre jewel heist from last October, or at least you do if you listened to episode 137 of History Fix from around that same time. When thieves posing as maintenance workers broke into the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery through a window, smashed display cases in broad daylight and made off with $102 million dollars worth of France’s crown jewels in about 8 minutes flat while security guards stood by doing absolutely nothing. There were obviously a lot of flaws in the Louvre’s security plan. Those 8 pieces of jewelry were never recovered and sadly, they’ve likely been disassembled, melted down and sold at this point. Which is really really sad because their historical value far outweighed their monetary value as gold and precious gems. What you may not know is that, the ease with which these thieves broke into one of the most famous museums in the world and successfully stole these priceless artifacts has led to a string of similar thefts in France. I mean why not? Literally no one is going to stop you. That is not me telling you to go steal jewelry from French museums guys, you know what I mean. But, yeah, the Louvre jewel heist led directly to several copycat crimes. One of which just happened on July 24th: the theft of the Vix Torque from a museum in Burgundy. What the heck is a Vix Torque and why might someone want to steal it? Let’s fix that. 

Hello and welcome back to the second episode of History Fix News, a new bonus mini segment I’m hoping to keep going exclusively on Patreon. Also guys, I’ll be back with weekly episodes soon. September is almost upon us. Both of my kids will be in school for 7ish hours a day soon and I will be able to actually accomplish things again, which will be nice. I mean don’t get me wrong, we’ve had a fantastic summer. Lots of quality time, borderline too much quality time, but it’s been fun. Lot’s of memories made. 

Our news article today comes out of France which is unfortunate because a lot of these words are impossible for my mouth to pronounce. But, as in all things, I’m going to do my best. If you missed the last episode of History Fix News, the way this works is that I read you a news article or two, today it’s just one, and then I sort of unpack it and share some thoughts and commentary and whatnot. So, before I read the article, which comes from Artnews. It’s called “Thieves Snatch 2,500-Year-Old Celtic Gold Torque from French Museum in Broad Daylight” and it’s by Maximiliono Duron, published on July 25 which was the day after the actual theft took place. So this was breaking news about a month ago. But before I read that, let me just inform you that the Vix Torque is essentially a necklace, kind of like a choker, a thick gold choker. They don’t actually get to that detail until the end of the article but I think it makes more sense to know that first. I’ve also included a picture of it on Patreon so hopefully you peeped that. Okay… let’s get into. 

Duron writes quote “A 2,500-year-old gold collar belonging to the Vix Treasure archaeological find was stolen Friday in broad daylight from a French museum, according to reports in Le Parisien and France 3.

The thieves allegedly entered the [here we go] Musée du Pays Châtillonnais – Trésor de Vix in Châtillon-sur-Seine, Burgundy, around 10:30 a.m. on July 24 by paying the admission fee, acting as regular visitors to the museum. Dijon prosecutor Olivier Caracotch said in a statement to Le Parisien that the thieves smashed the display case holding the gold collar, called a torque, before fleeing the museum through the main entrance.

Caracotch added that his office has opened an investigation for organized crime and that the Juridiction interrégionale spécialisée (JIRS) in Nancy will assist [quote] “given this classification, the nature of the facts, and the great complexity of the procedure.”  

Jérémie Brigand, the mayor of Châtillon-sur-Seine and president of Communauté de Communes du Pays Châtillonnais, said in a statement, according to Le Parisien, that the museum had faced “two previous failed nighttime burglary attempts” in the past eight months. The museum said that it had upped its security as a result, spending some €150,000 ($171,000) on new security cameras, motion detectors, and door detectors, per the France 3 report.

[quote] “Despite these measures, the perpetrators demonstrated an organization, a speed of execution and a determination that allowed them to carry out their action,” he said in his Le Parisien statement, characterizing the theft as a [quote] “attack on cultural heritage and the public interest.”

He told France 3 that the stolen torque is [quote] “priceless, it’s a unique piece in the world. And beyond the value of the gold, it’s a historical piece of Châtillonnais heritage. And it’s really damaging and regrettable that criminals are attacking the history of the Châtillonnais [sha-tee-yoh-NAY] and our country.”

The torque theft recalls the brazen theft at the Louvre in Paris, in which thieves made off with $102 million worth of jewels in less than eight minutes, also in broad daylight. That high-profile theft ultimately caused the museum’s president to resign and expedited the Louvre’s plans to address its dated security systems, which the museum is expected to begin in January 2027. The Louvre’s Apollo Gallery, where the stolen crown jewels had been on display, reopened this week without the jewels, which are still missing.

The Louvre heist led to several other museums across France facing similar thefts. Earlier this month, thieves targeted another French museum, stealing some $4.57 million worth of jewels from the Lalique Museum in Wingen-sur-Moder, Alsace.

The Vix Treasure was discovered in 1953 at the foot of Mont Lassois [mohn lah-swah], near the village of Vix, or about 4 miles north of Châtillon-sur-Seine, where the museum is located, according to its website. The heart of the findings was the tomb of a woman, called the “Dame of Vix” (Princess of Vix), who is believed to have been buried between 470 and 460 BCE.

The tomb was filled with precious objects, including the golden torque, which is made of 24-karat gold, weighs just over a pound, and dates to the 6th century BCE; the Vix Krater, which includes a depiction of Medusa and was produced around 530 BCE in the Greek colony of Sybaris in southern Italy and it is unknown how it came to Vix [a krater, for those who don’t know which is most people, is a Greek wine mixing vessel, the Vix Krater is huge, it’s over 5 feet tall, like this giant vase basically made of bronze]; and the Silver Phiale, likely a ceremonial item that is the “oldest silver vase discovered north of the Alps.” [they’re calling the silver phiale a vase but it’s really more like a bowl, a shallow dish like one you might eat pasta out of, that’s what it reminds me of. Back to the article…]

The golden torque is of a Celtic design in the shape of an arc [quote] “with its two ends resting on a lion paw that is positioned on hollow spheres,” per the museum, which notes that it was a symbol of power. Atop each lion paw is a depiction of the winged horse Pegasus, representing the Greek influence on the region during the era. That influence is juxtaposed with Celtic imagery of “two pear-shaped balls [that] symbolize the sun.”  

Initially, the torque was discovered on the princess’s skull and believed to be a diadem, but further research confirmed that it was [quote] “worn around the neck, like a necklace, by a member of the aristocracy. Its placement in the tomb likely resulted from the tomb’s collapse shortly after the burial,” per the museum.  

The museum adds, [quote] “Through its iconographic elements and method of manufacture, the torque reflects a blend of cultures and a transfer of technology, illustrating the vibrant trade in Europe at the end of the First Iron Age.” End of quote and end of article.  

Okay so, thoughts on this. First of all… France’s museum security seriously needs to get it together over there. The crown jewels were stolen from the Louvre in October of 2025 and they have plans to upgrade their security starting January of 2027? I’m sorry, what?? What is the almost year and a half hold up there? I mean, money I assume but like can we get the ball rolling on this? Since the Louvre heist there has been a string of other heist attempts including the successful theft of the Vix Torque. I mean you heard it in the article, before the torque was actually stolen, there were two failed attempts to steal it. There were also two successful heists in November of 2025 right after the Louvre jewel heist and, mentioned in the article, the Lalique Museum jewel heist from earlier this month. France clearly has a jewel heist problem that it needs to get under control. I like how the guy in the article was like “we’re investigating organized crime rings cause these guys were clearly professionals. No one else could have bought tickets to the museum, smashed the display case in broad daylight, and walked out with the priceless torque while bystanders and security did absolutely nothing. Surely no one but a very sophisticated organized crime ring could have done that.” Or, I don’t know, literally anyone? 

So, serious security issues, still, in French museums, and probably a lot of museums to be fair. I’m sure it’s not just France. We just have all these high profile thefts coming out of France because they have a lot of museums and a lot of art and precious gems and whatnot. It’s kind of their thing. So it seems like they have more heists but it may just be that they have more to steal. Also, though, of note, their museum security guards are not armed and they really aren’t supposed to do anything to intervene if a robbery is taking place. They are just supposed to call police basically. Like a human security alarm. Their whole job is to make a phone call or press a button or whatever. In the US, not all museum security is armed but some definitely are. Some of the larger, high profile museums have armed guards and like police stationed there at all times. Gun laws in the US and in France are obviously very different but that’s a topic for another day. 

Let’s get into the torque itself. As the article said, this chunky gold collar or choker is what I would call it as a child of the 90s dates back to the 500s BC and was discovered in a tomb in the 1950s along with that giant bronze wine mixing vase thing and that shallow silver pasta dish looking thing. They were all in the tomb of a woman who is referred to as the Dame or Princess of Vix. Vix because they were found near the village of Vix. So who was this woman? She was a obviously very wealthy Celtic woman living in the area of what is now Burgundy France around 500 BC. She was found in a burial mound that was a 9 meter square room which is quite big, that’s close to 30 feet by 30 feet. And then this room was encased in a huge mound. Inside the room, the woman’s body was laying on a bronze decorated wagon in the middle of the room. The four wheels of the wagon had been removed and were leaning against the wall. 

The woman was estimated to be around 35 years old at the time she died and seemed to be in good health except for some tooth decay. According to History and Archaeology online quote “The body of the “princess” was dressed in a large torc, two armlets of gold and lignite and a bronze anklet. She also wore necklaces of amber, diorite and serpentine beads and a 24-carat gold necklace weighing 480g. These items were both local and Mediterranean. The torc, while locally manufactured, shows Mediterranean features in its design. Although the fabric of the princess’s clothing did not survive, its fasteners — an eight coral set fibulae — did and have been identified as italic in origin,” end quote. Then we have the grave goods, quote “The artistry of the Vix burial’s other grave goods also emphasised the Mediterranean link. They included many imported items from Greece and Italy, including Attic pottery cups and Etruscan basins. The most spectacular item was an over 1.5 m high lidded bronze wine krater — one of the best pieces of archaic to survive from antiquity,” end quote. 

So we don’t really know who this woman was. We don’t know her name. We don’t know how she died. But we do know that she was important, clearly. This was someone who mattered to these people in order to give her such a rich burial. You wanna go build a 30 food by 30 food room in 500 BC and then cover it with an earthen mound? No heavy machinery folks. And then, just the valuables that were buried with her suggest a lot about her rank as well. 

The goods found in the Princess of Vix’ tomb tell us a lot about trade at that time. They tell us that the Celts were trading with people in the Mediterranean, the Greeks and the Romans. They also tell us a lot about Celtic women in that time and place. History and Archaeology Online writes quote “The burial shows Celtic women were important people in their own right and did not necessarily acquire status due to their relationships with men. Gold was a symbol of power to the Celts and the amount the princess took to her grave indicates her social standing. Although it is the earliest, the Vix burial is not the only high-status Celtic female burial in the area. A series of similar graves spread over the Rhine and Moselle area where women were accorded burials sometimes more splendid than many male chieftains,” end quote. 

Here’s the thing guys, the Vix Torque, in its current form is unsellable. Whoever stole that. They can’t sell it as is. It’s too identifiable. It’s too well known. It’s obviously stolen. The only way to profit off the Vix Torque is sadly to melt it down and sell the gold. So, unless they recover it which they almost certainly won’t. It’s gone. It’s just gone forever, this literally priceless artifact that says so much about a world we otherwise don’t know that much about. The life of a Celtic woman in 6th century BC France. Her high status, her power and importance which breaks from what we expect of women in the ancient world. We look at ancient Greek and Roman women, they had no status. They had no power. This woman clearly did. The Vix Torque also taught us about the inner workings of that world, the trade networks between the ancient Celts and the ancient Mediterranean, the shared goods, the spread of culture. A wine krater - so now we know the Celts are drinking wine, a habit which almost certainly would have come from the Mediterranean region. We don’t get to know about the lives of these people. The Princess of Vix didn’t have a diary, that we know of, where she wrote down everything about herself and what her life was like. All we have to understand that world, our world, our history, are these clues left behind, these artifacts, like the Vix Torque which is now, unfortunately, no longer. 

Thank you all so very much for listening to this episode of History Fix News. Source material for this episode, including the article I read are linked in the description. I’ll be back soon with more breaking history news stories just for Patreon subscribers.

Sources:

• Artnews “Thieves Snatch 2,500-Year-Old Celtic Gold Torque from French Museum in Broad Daylight”

• History and Archaeology Online “The Princess of Vix: Trade, Culture and Women in Celtic Society”