Count Paul de la Panouse is on cloud nine. Finally, a “big cloud”, he corrects, comfortably seated in his armchair in one of the lounges of the Château de Thoiry. For the past few days, he has had a smile on his face, since he received some good news: the porcelain given to his family by Queen Marie-Antoinette has been found and will be returned to him. This toiletry set had been stolen from him during a burglary in 1987, and he believed he had lost it forever.
“They were objects that were passed down in the family from generation to generation,” he says, “so when it was stolen, I really felt very responsible.”
A few weeks ago, Paul de la Panouse received a phone call. The items were found. During an appraisal, the details of which we do not yet know, an auctioneer understood that he had before his eyes some unusual objects. And to confirm his doubts, the expert called on another expert, specialized in ceramics, who immediately confirmed his colleague's intuition.
The specialist then contacts the OCBC, the Central Office for Combating Trafficking in Cultural Property. And indeed, they were indeed indicated in the database as stolen. They are precisely identified, there is no longer any doubt, it is time to bring them home. “It blew me away,” the count recalls. When he saw the photo, he said: “That? Stolen in Thoiry in 1987”.
Thursday March 11, Paul de la Panouse's precious porcelain toiletry service was returned to him. Around him, we suggest he move the objects himself. Not daring to lay a finger on it, he entrusts this task to someone else, who then leaves to store the jug and its basin behind a glass case, where they will proudly sit among the treasures of the castle.