Thieves empty Dutch silver museum in early morning heist

""The silver price is high... but for us it is of course far more than the silver price," the museum's chairman Ernst Boesveld told The Art Newspaper. "It is about the stories behind every mustard pot, it is history and it is cultural heritage. We are enormously disappointed and angry.""

""They were used by the elite, on their beautifully-laid tables," she said. "The inside of the silver mustard pots had an inlay of glass or ceramics, because mustard corrodes silver and silver cannot withstand it.""

""Doesburg is of course the quintessential mustard town," said Boesveld. "We have a mustard museum where a very specific type is still made. And as a church community, there is a connection with the mustard seed because you see it in the Biblical stories.""

Early on Wednesday morning at 4:30am two men forced their way into the Doesburg Silver Museum, housed in the 13th-century Martini church in Groningen, and stole more than 300 pieces of silverware. The thieves crowbarred open a door and shattered display cabinets, actions captured on security camera footage now under police examination. The stolen collection included a prized assembly of mustard pots collected by founder Martin de Kleijn and items dating from 1700 to 1920 once used by wealthy elites. One unique piece was a mustard pot and spoon by Marcel Blok bearing the arms of Doesburg. Museum staff described the objects as historically and culturally significant and reported the loss as both financially and emotionally damaging. The museum estimates the items are worth tens of thousands of euros.

Read at The Art Newspaper - International art news and events