The Dublin studio of acclaimed silversmith Séamus Gill has been broken into with decades worth of work and original jewellery stolen.
Mr Gill is one of Ireland’s most distinguished contemporary silversmiths.
In 2018, he presented the late Pope Francis with a bespoke cruet set during his visit to Ireland.
Speaking on RTE’s Morning Ireland, Mr Gill said: “The Pope was a very humble man, and he didn’t have many worldly goods, so when he came to Ireland, I was dealing with the Vatican.
“They knew he didn’t have his own cruet set, so I made the cruet set that was presented to him when he came here.”
Decades worth of prototypes, original jewellery and the entire design work for Mr Gill’s forthcoming collection were stolen in the incident.
His work has been exhibited extensively both in Ireland and abroad, and is featured in permanent collections of the National Museum of Ireland as well as in prestigious private collections around the world.
Mr Gill said that the burglary happened over the Easter weekend.
“Because of the nature of silversmithing, it takes time to make pieces and develop them, so there were some pieces I’ve been working on over a few years – they were all taken,” he said.
“For every jewellery collection that I would make, I’d make an original piece with the original hallmarks and the date letter in it. That was all taken, so work over the last 40 years.”
Mr Gill said that the pieces taken are irreplaceable.
“It’s a lot of one-off pieces, it’s a cultural legacy as well as my work, my lifetime’s work.”
He appealed to anyone with any information to get in touch with gardaí.
“All the work is silver, which is unusual, there aren’t many silversmiths left … it has an identifiable signature, and it carries the Irish hallmark,” he added.
