Hide the Good China: Insider Allegedly Steals Silverware from Élysée Palace

A silver steward at the French presidential palace is facing charges of stealing “heritage property” after precious silverware and tableware items went missing. The objects—including copper pots, Sèvres porcelain, a René Lalique figurine, and Baccarat champagne glasses—were found in the steward’s locker, car, and home, according to prosecutors.

The items have an estimated value of between 15,000 and 40,000 euros ($17,000 to $47,000), French newspaper Le Parisien reported. Recovered items were returned to the Élysée Palace.

The theft was first uncovered after the head steward at the Élysée reported the disappearance of several items. Then, officials at the Sèvres porcelain manufactory spotted some of their unique items being auctioned online, including a plate with an Air Force stamp and ashtrays not available to the general public, The New York Times reported.

The silver steward, or argentier, accused of the theft had been recording dwindling inventories, potentially setting up for future thefts. He was in a relationship with the manager of an online auction company known for selling tableware. Both people were arrested last week.

Another suspect, accused of fencing the stolen goods, has been charged as well. This man, referred to by authorities as Ghislain M., allegedly worked as a guard for the Louvre museum.

A trial date has been set for 26 February 2026 for the theft of movable heritage property, which carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and 150,000 euros in fines.  The suspects also face charges of aggravated receipt of stolen property.

Until the trial, the defendants have been placed under judicial supervision, are barred from contacting each other, and may not attend auction venues.

Argentiers at the Élysée are responsible for the upkeep of all of the palace’s silverware, tableware, and crystal, helping to preserve the fine dining sets for state dinners and other important occasions. Many of the items are more than 100 years old.

The latest theft marks a close to a tumultuous year for French cultural property security. In October, thieves made off with priceless pieces of historical jewelry from the Louvre. Four suspects have been arrested in relation to the case, but the jewels have not been recovered. Thieves have also targeted precious metals, including gold nuggets at Paris’s Natural History Museum and 2,000 gold and silver coins worth about 90,000 euros from the Maison des Lumières.

Museums aren’t the only facilities being targeted. In October 2025, six robbers used explosives to enter a precious-metal company in Lyon, France. In that case, though, police quickly arrested the suspects and recovered the stolen items, the Times reported.

In an interview with Security Management earlier this year, Robert Combs, assistant VP, visitor services and security, for the J. Paul Getty Trust, said that commodities theft continues to be a persistent risk factor for museums.

In recent years, museums have seen a “huge trend to steal items that have commodity value—things that are small, portable, that have high breakdown value,” Combs said. “The tragic thing is it loses its historic value, but the commodity value is enough to motivate a thief to take this risk.”

The price of gold and silver are extremely high (more than $4,400 per ounce for gold in late December 2025 and nearly $70 per ounce for silver), making the theft of precious metals increasingly tempting for thieves. Curators and historians fear that stolen jewelry and coins will be melted down and sold for the cost of their materials.

A series of avoidable security failures enabled the Louvre heist thieves to evade police and make off with France’s crown jewels, according to a scathing investigation released Wednesday morning. https://t.co/jldRGthz2e

— Security Management (@SecMgmtMag) December 10, 2025

In the wake of the Louvre heist, museums worldwide are reevaluating their security posture, including for smaller items that might not attract huge numbers of visitors but could be easily fenced. Louvre officials are also facing heated criticism for the museum’s security lapses, with investment in new security measures coming quickly.

Doug Beaver, CPP, independent cultural protection security consultant, suggested that museums create a cross-departmental review team of security, facilities, curatorial, and risk management personnel to look at how thieves breached the Louvre perimeter and display cases, the detection and response measures that worked or failed, and how communication flowed between stakeholders.

“These three questions would ensure that the team internalizes the event as a real-world training scenario, not simply a distant news story that ‘will never happen to me,’” he told Security Management in October. “I would then follow up with a re-evaluation of our layered approach and use the incident to reassess each layer of our protection strategy, including the perimeter, building envelope, interior zones, and object protection systems.”