© OCCPA

Under the staircase in the Ashmolean Museum, John Peter le Maitre awaited his chance. Once everybody had left for the evening, he crept out of his hiding place and up the darkened staircase, stepping into one of the rooms and over to the cabinets. The original Ashmolean had been built in 1678–84 to house the collections of the antiquary Elias Ashmole, and by this time in 1776 the building was no stranger to light fingers, but this was something different.

It was 3 February 1776, and a full moon lit the room. Le Maitre skilfully prized open the cabinet while the world outside happily slept oblivious to the work going on inside the Ashmolean. Le Maitre began to remove and conceal about his person a variety of objects from a cabinet, fifteen in total, including gold and silver medals, several gold and silver chains and a large gold coin. The haul was valued at around £200. Laden down, he moved through the shadows cast as the moonlight streamed through the windows. It was at one such window that Le Maitre now worked, pulling a bar from it and levering the window open. Unseen and unsuspected he made his escape. Le Maitre made a hasty exit, climbing aboard a post coach bound for London early that morning, cheekily offering the post-boy payment in gold medals.