The Tamesis
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, thieves attacked a museum in the eastern Dutch city of Duesburg and stole its entire collection of silverware. According to museum staff, more than 300 “irreplaceable” items worth tens of thousands of dollars were stolen.
At around 4:30 a.m. local time, two men forced their way into the Duesburg Silver Museum located in the 13th-century Martini Church. CCTV footage showed the pair using a crowbar to force open the door and smash display cabinets before escaping with the stolen goods. The silverware includes a valuable collection of mustard jars collected by the museum’s founder, Martin de Kleijn.
“Only the ceramics that were on temporary display remain,” museum chairman Ernst Boesveld told Dutch regional broadcaster. Omrop Gelderland. The museum is insured, he said. “The price of silver is high… but to us it’s about much more than the price of silver. It’s about the story behind every mustard pot, the history and cultural heritage. We’re very disappointed and angry.”
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Sietske Annevelink-Schurer, a member of the museum’s board of directors, said the collection spans 1700 to 1920 and was used by some of Europe’s wealthiest people. “They were used by the elite and placed on beautifully furnished tables,” she said. Many mustard jars are lined with glass or ceramic to protect the silver from the mustard’s corrosion.
Silversmith Marcel Blok created a particularly unique mustard pot and spoon engraved with the coat of arms of Doesburg, a city historically associated with mustard production. “Of course, Duesburg is the quintessential mustard town,” Bosveld said. “As a church community, there is also a connection to the mustard seed in biblical stories. In early modern times, when foreign spices were expensive and exotic, mustard was a prestigious condiment.”
The robbery comes amid a series of metal-related thefts in the Netherlands. Rising prices for precious metals have prompted thieves to target everything from highway statues to museum pieces. In January last year, the Drents Museum reported a loss of more than €4 million to gold treasures linked to the ancient Dacians.
Bosveld said he hopes the stolen silver will not be melted down, saying its historical and monetary value is far more intact than the original metal.
