Overview
- Karl Habsburg disclosed to Der Spiegel that the cache is in a Québec safe, still packed in Empress Zita’s leather suitcase from her flight overseas.
- Vienna jeweler A. E. Köchert examined the trove in Canada and authenticated key pieces, including the 137-carat Florentiner diamond.
- Several significant items remain missing, including Empress Elisabeth’s diamond crown and Maria Theresa’s rose necklace.
- Family accounts detail that the jewels were taken out of Austria on 4 November 1918 to Switzerland and disappeared from public view around 1921.
- The heirs plan to exhibit the collection outside Austria, arguing it left before post-monarchy confiscation laws, a position expected to prompt a legal challenge and complicating valuation described as inestimable.