The Hatton Garden robbery captivated the public in 2015 when thieves made off with millions of pounds worth of jewellery after an attempted safe-break. Even more sensationally, it soon emerged that the mastermind criminal gang had all been elderly men with the final criminal only being brought to justice earlier this year. ITV’s four-part “Hatton Garden, starring beloved veteran actor Timothy Spall, begins tonight and unravels the fascinating crime story. 

However, many may not realise that the famed jewellery district was the setting of another dramatic heist that involved the theft of “The Mona Lisa of Pearls”.

The pearl heist centred around Hatton Garden jewellery trader Max Mayer, and took place in 1913. 

Mr Meyer had in stock a stunning necklace of 61 blush-pink pearls, a masterpiece that had taken ten years to match and assemble. 

At its centre was a large pearl that had belonged to the Portuguese royal family. 

The flawless jewels were so perfect, the necklace became known globally as the “Mona Lisa of Pearls”, and was insured for a staggering £150,000 – over £17million in today’s money. 

However, the precious treasure became embroiled in a dramatic theft that reads like an Agatha Christie mystery.

In 1913, Mr Meyer offered the piece to a Parisian dealer to view before the sale fell through.

That July, the dealer returned the necklace to Mr Meyer in Hatton Garden by registered post, closing the precious package with three monogrammed seals.

When Mr Meyer broke the intact seals and opened the package, he discovered the necklace had been replaced by 11 lumps of sugar.

A Scotland Yard investigation ensued, and quickly targeted famed jewel-thief Joseph Grizzard.

Grizzard was a debonaire figure and had made his considerable fortune from the proceeds of crime.

One story goes that when police knocked on his door with a warrant related to the theft of some diamonds, interrupting him at the dinner table, Grizzard graciously invited them in.

When officers found nothing, they apologised to Grizzard and left.

Guests were delighted when Grizzard, returning to his bowl of soup on the dinner table, reached in and pulled out a long string of diamonds.  

Undercover police managed to arrest Grizzard and his gang for the theft of the famous pearl necklace, which they had managed to pull off after carefully staking out the comings and goings of the Hatton Garden and Paris jewellers.

Grizzard’s men had bribed a postman with £200 for access to his bag, and replaced the package of jewels with the sugar cubes, which weighed the same as the pearls and was sealed with a forgery of the jeweller’s seal. 

However, the thieves did not have all 61 pearls – three were still missing.

In the final twist to the tale, piano-maker Augustus Horne was walking home in Highbury two weeks later.

He saw a man deliberately drop a small package into the gutter and, when he failed to stop the man, Mr Horne went to retrieve it.

Finding what he thought were beads, he apparently gave one to a street urchin to use as a marble, before handing the remaining two in to police.

They turned out to be the missing flawless pink pearls,  and Mr Horne received a £10,000 reward from insurer Lloyd’s – over a million pounds today.

The daring heist was  Lloyd’s largest ever claim for a jewellery policy, however sharp-eyed Mr Horne’s find meant that they did not have to pay out the eye-watering £150,000 in the end.

The haul from the 2015 Hatton Garden heist included gold, loose diamonds, pearls and other jewels, and is estimated to have been worth £14million.

Police believe that two of the thieves, John “Kenny” Collins and Brian Reader, still have £6.5million of the proceeds under their control, and the pair face being sent back to prison if they do not repay the money. 

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