THIEVES stole this Roman porphyry two-handled bowl-like vase when they broke into the Italian Garden at Hever Castle.

The marble column to which the vase was attached at the castle, near Edenbridge, was smashed by the thieves. The theft took place overnight on Tuesday, July 12.

The vase was part of the original collection of antiquities and statuary put together by William Waldorf Astor in the l890s when he was the American Minister in Rome.

He bought the castle in 1903.