Two 18th-century gold snuffboxes that were stolen from an exhibition in late 2024 will go on show at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) this week. They will be on display in the London museum’s revamped Gilbert Galleries, due to open on Saturday (14 March).
The snuffboxes, part of the prestigious Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, were among seven taken in a daylight robbery from Luxe de poche: petits objets precieux au siècle des lumières, held at the Musée Cognacq-Jay in Paris in November 2024. Two of the snuffboxes were on loan from the Louvre while two other snuffboxes came from the UK Royal Collection.
According to the BBC, the robbery resulted in an insurance payment of over £3m to the Royal Collection Trust early last year. The recovery of five of the objects was announced by Paris Musées and the City of Paris on 14 October 2025 (the Snuffbox Fabrique Royale, made around 1740, belonging to the Royal Collection was not recovered however).
“Thanks to an extensive police investigation led by the Paris Criminal Investigation Department, five of the seven objects were recovered, including two Berlin-made snuffboxes dating from the 1760s that are particular stars of the Gilbert Collection, on long-term loan to the V&A,” says a project statement.
The first snuffbox, made of chrysoprase, gold and diamond, was commissioned by Frederick ‘The Great’ II of Prussia. The second snuffbox, made of gold and diamonds in Berlin or St Petersburg around 1760, was presented by Catherine II of Russia (1729–1796) to the physician Thomas Dimsdale.
In a V&A blog-post, Alice Minter, a curator of the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, describes how the boxes were repaired after being damaged in the robbery: “A Parisian goldsmith’s studio was appointed… the restoration of the chrysoprase snuffbox was relatively straightforward. A general cleaning was completed first to remove dirt, glue residue and dust," she said, before the boxes could be restored to their original state.
The restoration of the Dimsdale box was more challenging, Morris says. “Part of the thumbspiece had been pushed in and some of the settings badly torn and squashed… it was agreed that elements should be straightened and diamonds refitted wherever possible, restoring the box to as much of its original state as possible.”
The new Gilbert Galleries at the V&A have been designed by the London-based Citizens Design Bureau practice. The number of galleries has increased from four to seven and occupy adjacent former offices overlooking both the John Madejski Garden and Exhibition Road, as part of the V&A’s Future Plan development programme. Project funders include the Gilbert Trust for the Arts and The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Arthur Gilbert (1913–2001) and Rosalinde (1913–95) began their careers as fashion entrepreneurs in wartime London before moving to Los Angeles in 1949, where Arthur Gilbert became a successful property developer. Their collection was amassed from the 1960s onwards while they were living in Beverly Hills.
It was donated to the British nation in 1996 and initially shown in Somerset House and then, from 2008, at the V&A. Today the collection comprises around 1,200 items.