Valuable gold box stolen in Waddesdon Manor raid recovered after 19 years

The box was one of over 100 stolen from the Rothschild house in a dramatic break-in in 2003.

At about 2am on June 10, a masked gang in blue boiler suits smashed their way through a window.

Within minutes, the thieves had made off with more than 100 gold boxes and other precious objects.

Very few of the high-value objects have ever been recovered.

In August 2021, one of the boxes was identified by the team at Art Loss Register (ALR) when it came up for sale at a UK regional auction house.

The gold box is a French bonbonniere – a small circular box used for sweets - dated 1775-1781 and made in Paris.

It has a miniature of a woman holding a basket of roses on its lid. It is decorated with gold piqué (inlaid) stars on a dark blue ground and has a tortoiseshell interior.

As soon as the ALR identified it, they alerted staff at Waddesdon, who checked the images and other details to confirm that it was one of the stolen boxes.

The ALR notified the auction house and contacted Thames Valley Police.

The box has now been returned to Waddesdon and will go on display from Wednesday, April 27, in the Rothschild Treasury.

Waddesdon spokesperson Pippa Shirley said: “I am absolutely delighted that this box has returned, and very grateful to the Art Loss Register for its part in its successful recovery.

"The 2003 theft was deeply traumatic for everyone at Waddesdon – I remember it vividly - and this feels such a positive outcome and gives us hope that the other boxes may yet come back to us.”

Lucy O’Meara, of the ALR, said: “I am thrilled to see the box returned to Waddesdon Manor.

"It is an honour to assist in returning a small part of the house’s cultural history to its rightful place and I am hopeful that the remaining boxes will be reunited with the National Trust collection very soon.”

You can see a full list of the items which remain missing here and anyone with any information can contact info@artloss.com