On Tuesday morning, Marian Bies-de Wolf was working at TEFAF, the world’s pre-eminent positive artwork and antiquities festivals, when she noticed a gaggle of males operating by its corridors.
It was an odd sight, she mentioned in a phone interview, since “no one runs at TEFAF,” which is held yearly in Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Then issues acquired stranger, Ms. Bies-de Wolf mentioned, as the lads pulled out a heavy object and “began bashing up” a glass case within the subsequent sales space, which belonged to the London jewellery vendor Symbolic & Chase. Ms. Bies-de Wolf couldn’t see if the lads took something, she mentioned; after somebody shouted that the thieves had a gun, she ran away.
A number of hours after the theft, it was nonetheless unclear what the thieves had stolen. The Dutch police mentioned in a information launch that 4 males had taken jewellery, however gave no additional info. Two males from Belgium had been arrested and their potential involvement was being investigated, it added, whereas a seek for different folks related to the theft was ongoing.
Wim Coenen, a spokesman for the Dutch police in Limburg, the area that covers Maastricht, mentioned in a phone interview that he couldn’t remark additional or state whether or not any jewellery had been recovered.
A spokesman for Symbolic & Chase declined to touch upon the incident.
TEFAF, also called the European Effective Artwork Truthful, is among the world’s longest-running artwork festivals specializing in positive artwork and antiquities. The present version, its thirty fifth, opened on Saturday and runs by Thursday.
This yr’s occasion options 242 sellers, amongst them Symbolic & Chase. In keeping with its Instagram feed, Symbolic & Chase had a large number of things on show on the honest together with diamond rings, and an intricate, Japanese-inspired gold bracelet.
TEFAF’s organizers didn’t point out the honest had skilled a theft on social media. In a post on Twitter they mentioned that the honest was “briefly evacuated attributable to an incident,” and was “nonetheless open to guests and exhibitors.”
But occasions appeared extra dramatic to witnesses. James Butterwick, a British vendor, mentioned by telephone that he was simply yards from the theft when it occurred. Mr. Butterwick mentioned he walked out of one other sales space to see a person attempting to smash a glass case.
A Dutch honest customer picked up a vase of flowers and tried to confront the robbers, Mr. Butterwick added, just for one of many thieves to drag out a what seemed to be a gun, which he waved at onlookers. “Issues took a little bit of a flip for the more serious,” Mr. Butterwick mentioned.
Mr. Butterwick, whose account was corroborated by video footage of the robbery posted on social media, mentioned the occasion lasted about 30 seconds. He didn’t see what the robbers stole, he added, however they appeared to be “after particular objects.”
When he entered the honest, Mr. Butterwick mentioned, safety personnel on the entrance “took a detailed have a look at you,” and checked luggage, although nobody needed to stroll by metallic detectors or was patted down.
He added that he didn’t see any safety guards confront the robbers. TEFAF mentioned in an electronic mail assertion on Tuesday afternoon that “the honest’s safety groups labored shortly to disarm an offender,” and the Dutch police have been on web site inside minutes. “No one was injured through the incident,” the TEFAF assertion added.
This isn’t the primary time TEFAF has been hit by a theft. In 2008, thieves stole a diamond necklace price about $1.8 million from the honest; in 2010, a hoop and necklace price about $1.3 million have been stolen from a sales space run by Hancocks, one other London jewellery vendor.
Hancocks didn’t reply to a request for an interview on Tuesday.
