A DUBLIN MAN who was a silversmith to the Pope had his collection robbed from his studio over the Easter weekend.

Seamus Gill, a renowned silversmith and jewellery designer, asked the public to look out for unique silver pieces that may belong to him, as he spent years working on some of the pieces, which he says are irreplaceable.

He told RTÉ Radio One’s Morning Ireland: “Over Easter weekend, I was robbed of everything I had in it.

“I had a number of finished pieces, like candlesticks, vases, bowls, beakers. But another aspect of my work is I make jewellery. It’s the silversmithing work on a smaller scale.”

He says all of this stock was taken, as well as works in progress.

“Because of the nature of silversmithing, it takes time to make pieces and develop them. Some pieces I’d be working on over a few years – they were all taken.”

Gill said he’d been working on a new jewellery collection and the prototypes and sketch models were also among the stolen items.

“For every jewellery collection that I make, I’d keep an original piece with the original hallmarks and the date letter in it, and that was all taken – so work over the last 40 years.”

Asked how the items will be replaced, Gill said: “They can’t be.”

“It’s a lot of one-off pieces. It’s a cultural legacy as well as my lifetime’s work.”

Gill appealed to the public to look out for unique silver pieces with a hallmark that may belong to him.

Gill said he was grateful that one of his creations – a silver tea service with a pot, creamer and sugar bowl – was not in his workshop when the robbery occurred.

It’s been on display in the National Museum of Ireland.

Pieces for the Pope

When Pope Francis visited Ireland in 2018, Gill also made him a cruet set – for holding water and wine when it’s carried to the altar.

“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, and 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.”

The set was then used in the Santa Marta Chapel in the Vatican.