France, Feb. 5 -- The thieves who robbed the famed Paris museum last October made off with an estimated 88 million euros ($104 million) in jewels, but dropped the empress's diamond- and emerald-studded crown as they escaped, leaving it crushed and broken.

Investigators have yet to locate the other jewels, but recovered the dropped crown.

The Louvre said in a statement the piece had been "badly deformed", but remained "nearly intact" and would be restored to its original state, "without the need for reconstruction".

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The museum said the crown was damaged when the thieves tried to remove it through a narrow hole they had sawed in the glass case where it was di...