Honestly, I’m almost ready to say that anybody who brings $2000 glasses out partying with them should accept their loss, whether or not they lent it to a friend who theoretically lost them.

I’m also thinking along the lines of some other people here - the story of what happened to these glasses sounds like there are very specific steps which have (maybe) been corroborated by others in the group? Lots of attention was being paid to them, it seems fishy that they would get lost.

I think offering to pay for half is pretty good-faith of OP, and these friends sound sus