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\u2019s revamped Gilbert Galleries, due to open on Saturday (14 March).<\/p>\n
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 si\u00e8cle des lumi\u00e8res, held at the Mus\u00e9e 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.<\/p>\n
According to<\/a> the BBC, the robbery resulted in an insurance payment of over \u00a33m to the Royal Collection Trust early last year. The recovery of five of the objects was announced by Paris Mus\u00e9es 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).<\/p>\n \u201cThanks 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,\u201d says a project statement.<\/p>\n The first snuffbox, made of chrysoprase, gold and diamond, was commissioned by Frederick \u2018The Great\u2019 II of Prussia.\u00a0The second snuffbox, made of gold and diamonds in Berlin or St Petersburg around 1760, was presented by Catherine II of Russia (1729\u20131796) to the physician Thomas Dimsdale.<\/p>\n