A museum in the eastern Dutch city of Doesburg has been hit by thieves who lifted its entire silverware collection in the early hours of Wednesday morning. According to museum staff, more than 300 “irreplaceable” objects were stolen, valued at tens of thousands of dollars.
At approximately 4:30 a.m. local time, two men forced entry into the Doesburg Silver Museum, housed in the 13th-century Martini Church. CCTV footage shows the duo using a crowbar to force open a door and shatter display cabinets before making off with the loot. Among the silver was a treasured collection of mustard pots assembled by the museum’s founder, Martin de Kleijn.
“Only the ceramics, which were on temporary display, were left behind,” Ernst Boesveld, the museum’s chairman, told Dutch regional broadcaster Omroep Gelderland. The museum is insured, he said. “The silver price is high… but for us it is far more than the silver price. It is about the stories behind every mustard pot—it is history and cultural heritage. We are enormously disappointed and angry.”
Sietske Annevelink-Schurer, a member of the museum board, said that the collection spans 1700 to 1920 and was once used by some of the wealthiest individuals in Europe. “They were used by the elite, on their beautifully laid tables,” she said. Many of the mustard pots were lined with glass or ceramic to protect the silver from mustard’s corrosive properties.
One particularly unique mustard pot and spoon, made by silversmith Marcel Blok, was emblazoned with the arms of Doesburg, a city historically linked to mustard production. “Doesburg is, of course, the quintessential mustard town,” Boesveld said. “As a church community, there is also a connection with the mustard seed in Biblical stories. In the Early Modern period, when foreign spices were expensive and exotic, mustard was a prestigious condiment.”
The heist comes amid a spate of metal-related thefts in Holland. Rising prices for precious metals have driven thieves to target everything from motorway statues to museum collections. Last January, the Drents Museum in Assen reported the loss of more than €4 million in golden treasures linked to the ancient Dacians.
Boesveld said he hopes the stolen silverware would not be melted down, saying that its historical and monetary value is far greater intact than as raw metal.
