A silver steward employed at the Élysée Palace in Paris has been arrested for stealing silverware and porcelain, amid a wave of thefts from high-profile French institutions.
Investigators arrested the man and two alleged accomplices last week. They are accused of taking the objects from the official Paris residence of the French president and trying to sell them on online auction websites such as Vinted.
The head steward at the palace alerted authorities to the missing objects, some of which are deemed items of national heritage. The items are estimated to have a combined value of up to €40,000 (£35,000).
Most of the pieces came from the Sèvres Manufactory in Paris, a famed porcelain factory that has been owned by the French state since 1759. Investigators began to question Élysée staff after factory personnel recognised some of the missing items on auction sites.
The alleged thefts are an unwelcome encore to a string of robberies from the Louvre and other French museums in recent months that have raised concern about lax safeguards at the country’s cultural institutions.
The role of silver steward involves storing and looking after tableware and similar items used by presidents, visiting royalty and other dignitaries. Prosecutors said inventory records made by the arrested steward gave the impression he was planning future thefts.
According to investigators, the man’s Vinted account included a plate stamped “French Air Force” and ashtrays marked “Sèvres Manufactory” – items not usually available to the general public.
They said they recovered about 100 objects in his home, vehicle and personal locker, including Sèvres porcelain, a René Lalique statuette, Baccarat champagne coupes and copper saucepans.
The steward and his alleged accomplices appeared in court on 18 December and will be tried on 26 February. The trio were placed under judicial supervision, banned from contacting one another, prohibited from appearing at auction venues and barred from their professional activities, the Associated Press reported.
The recovered items were returned to the Élysée – a happier outcome than at the Louvre, which is still missing crown jewels worth an estimated €88m (£77m) after a daylight raid in October. Four suspects have been arrested in relation to that case.
Other French institutions targeted in recent months include Paris’s Natural History Museum and a porcelain museum in Limoges. Both were raided in September, losing six gold nuggets worth about €1.5m (£1.3m) and Chinese porcelain with an estimated combined worth of €6.55m (£5.7m) respectively.
In October, around 2,000 gold and silver coins worth about €90,000 (£78,000) were stolen from the Maison des Lumières (House of Enlightenment), a museum in Langres dedicated to the philosopher Denis Diderot.
