A large diamond-encrusted breast bow was among the items stolen in 2019. Photo: Grünes Gewölbe / Polizeidirektion Dresden / dpa Picture-Alliance via AFP
German police say they have recovered a number of 18th-Century treasures stolen from a Dresden museum during a NZD$200 million heist in 2019.
Authorities returned 31 objects to the Green Vault museum after being secured overnight in Berlin.
The items were reportedly found after talks with the lawyers of six men currently on trial for the theft.
Among the items were a diamond-encrusted breast star and a richly-jewelled Heron Tail hat decoration.
The thieves stole the treasures from part of a collection created in 1723 by Saxony's ruler, Augustus the Strong. They were housed in the vault, known in German as Dreden's Grünes Gewölbe, until the robbery in 2019.
Some of the jewels stolen during the heist. Photo: Jürgen Karpinski/Grünes Gewölbe/Polizeidirektion Dresden via AFP
German officials believe the heist was well-planned and professionally carried out. Before breaking into the museum, the thieves set fire to a circuit-breaker panel, plunging the streets around the museum into darkness.
Several masked figures then broke into the gallery, before smashing a glass display case with an axe and retrieving the jewels with fishing twine.
They then escaped in an Audi getaway car, which police later found on fire in an underground car park. The entire operation was believed to have taken less than 10 minutes.
This photo taken on 29 April, 2020 shows the empty showcase from which jewels were stolen in November 2019. Photo: Sebastian Kahnert / dpa / AFP
The returned items will now be examined by specialists in order to confirm the pieces' authenticity.
Not all of the items have been found, however. An epaulette which included a precious stone known as the Dresden White Diamond was still missing.
Authorities have given little detail about how the jewels were secured.
The trial of the thieves, which started in January, was set to resume on Tuesday, AFP news agency reported.
The Green Vault collection was housed in eight ornate rooms in the Residenzschloss - a former royal palace.
Three rooms were destroyed by Allied bombing in World War Two, but after the war the museum was restored to its previous glory.
It was called the Green Vault because some rooms were decorated with malachite-green paint.
There were about 3000 items of jewellery and other treasures decorated with gold, silver, ivory and pearl.
The collection was founded by Augustus the Strong. He was Elector of Saxony - a German prince entitled to take part in the election of the emperor - and later king of Poland.
