If diminished funding and smaller budgets aren’t enough to challenge the existence of many museums we were reminded of another glaring vulnerability. Smash-and-grab assaults occurred in two smaller French museums in the last several weeks. At the Cognacq-Jay Museum display cases were demolished by men wielding axes and baseball bats. Seven ornate snuff boxes valued at $1M were removed right in front of visitors. Two days later, in an apparently unconnected event, thieves walked into the Hieron Museum, fired shots and headed right for a display case housing a 10-ft tall figure of Christ encrusted with diamonds and rubies. Using a chain saw they easily dismantled the case and removed the jewels and some figurines worth an estimated $7M. In both cases the thieves left unchallenged.

There are a number of troublesome aspects to both of these thefts. Foremost is their seeming brazenness. How bold are thefts like this, though? Thieves are well aware that even large museums may be defenceless against this type of invasion during visiting hours. Armed guards can be an intimidation factor, but how willing are they to react with force when the public is present? Smaller museums have minimal personnel overseeing collections, to say nothing of an armed guard. The ease with which the thieves took specifically what they wanted in these two instances and escaped without pursuit can leave us breathless and wondering.

In both instances jewels were targeted, the least likely assets to ever be recovered. Once removed from whatever they adorn they can be sold, and precious metals melted down. Tim Carpenter, CEO of the consulting group, Argus Cultural Property Protection, says, “Considering the monetary value of some of the world’s most precious cultural heritage and the ease with which criminals can convert those commodities, it’s shocking at times to see how little effort is actually directed at protecting these irreplaceable works”.  There are no identifiers on jewels, unlike a painting or sculpture, whose images and data can be relayed to a knowledgeable and increasingly communicative art and auction market. The means of tagging gems with block chain identification is in the very nascent stages. Other strategies like using predictive technologies to scan crowds for likely suspects are worthless in the face of a sudden assault.

The hope, if not to prevent, is to slow the event to the point where a response may be timely. In both these instances the assets were soft targets in easily compromised cases. The technology for constructing vitrines has improved to the point where laminated glass for the hoods is not impossible to break, but very difficult. And the entry point to open the vitrine can be made hard to detect. Not to say that repeated hits with a sledge hammer won’t do the job, but if there is a glass break sensor inside it will surely trigger an alarm, as will object-specific sensors on the assets themselves to compound the immediacy of an alert. At that point the museum would be well advised to make it a loud alarm, in addition to an electronic notification to the police.

Reinforced vitrines and sensors can seem like a burden on small budgets, but if a thorough risk assessment and cost benefit analysis shows the value then these measures should be implemented, at the very least. After that the only recourse is investigation and forensics, if not the hope that one of the thieves will slip up and expose himself. Because the fewer cases solved the more encouragement there is for determined attacks, particularly by those criminals who are unafraid to use violence or force.

Yesterday, thieves executed a daring daylight robbery at the Musée Cognacq-Jay, a museum located in the Hôtel Donon formerly owned by the eponymous family, and located in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris.                                                                                Around 10:30 a.m., four individuals armed with axes and baseball bats shattered a large glass display case in the museum, while wearing gloves, hoods, and helmets in order to conceal their identities selecting several of the most valuable pieces. The heist unfolded in front of visitors during regular opening hours, and no injuries were reported among staff and exhibition attendees.                                                                                                                                                            

The event showcased perfume bottles, candy boxes, music boxes, snuff boxes, and sewing kits decorated with gold, precious stones, mother-of-pearl or even enamels, highlighting objects from the 18th and early 19th centuries, which are representative of the Age of Enlightenment when precious objects like these were in vogue in France.  The event included objects loaned from the Château de Versailles, the Musée du Louvre, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, the Palais Galliera, the English Royal Collections and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. 

In total, seven highly valuable objects were taken by the thieves before they made a hasty exit, departing into the Paris traffic on scooters. 

The stolen material taken in the robbery are as follows: 

This gold snuff box dating from the 8th century and encrusted with agate cabochons made by Johann Christian Neuber , known for his gold snuff boxes, which he called Steinkabinettabatiere.  This object was on loan from the Musée du Louvre. 

This snuff box made of agate plates dating from 1760-1770, with hard stone reliefs, joined by a gold cage mount, and a lid encrusted with numerous brilliant-cut diamonds,  made by Daniel Baudesson, also on loan from the Musée du Louvre. 

This chrysoprase snuffbox made in Berlin, Germany, in ca. 1765, associated with Frederick II, the Great, of Prussia (1712-1786), previously on display at the Somerset House as part of the Gilbert Collection ©,  The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

This 16th century gold and lapis cartouche shaped snuff box with a cameo of the Birth of Venus Cameo from the UK's Royal Trust. 

This c.1780 snuff box made by Johann Christian Neuber, one of the most celebrated goldsmiths in the history of snuffboxes which combined his own technique of Zellenmosaik, or mosaic of hardstones set into gold collets, with the technique of Roman micromosaics only recently developed, part of the Gilbert Collection ©,  The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

This diamond-encrusted, varicoloured-gold snuffbox, decorated with figures in neo-classical landscapes, gifted to Thomas Dimsdale (1712-1800), by Catherine II during the Russian smallpox epidemic of 1768, , part of the Gilbert Collection ©,  The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Prosecutors have indicated that the French police are treating this as an armed robbery by a criminal gang. As motives are explored, it should be remembered that due to their intricate craftsmanship and historical significance, snuffboxes made of gold and other precious materials, have long been prized by organised criminals, in part because they are small enough to easy move.   

Other examples of snuffbox thefts

"The Fulford Thefts" occurred in 1981 when Temple Newsam House in Leeds was burglarised in a nighttime heist, resulting in the loss of 24 exquisite snuffboxes.   In that incident, the culprits, operating under the cover of darkness, targeted these highly valuable items due to their intricate craftsmanship and historical significance. The incident was named after the notorious criminal gang linked to the thefts, and remains one of the most notable art crimes in UK history from a stately home.  The recovery of some pieces from this theft took decades. 

On June 10, 2003, the Johnson gang carried out a high-profile theft at Waddesdon Manor, a historic estate in Buckinghamshire, England. The gang broke into the Rothschild collection housed at the manor and stole over 100 priceless items, including a significant collection of antique gold snuff boxes. The meticulously planned raid lasted only minutes, during which the thieves targeted small but immensely valuable £5 million collection, due to their portability and worth. 

The Cognacq-Jay museum has specified that it is closed while the investigation is underway and that it will reopen on Tuesday, December 10, 2024.  People who have purchased advanced tickets for the “Luxe de Poche” exhibition or for other activities will be automatically refunded.