Conmen duped staff at an Oxford art gallery of more than £8,000 worth of jewellery in an elaborate scam.

Posing as big spending customers and flashing huge wads of cash, two men targeted Verandah Gallery in North Parade, off Banbury Road.

One of the gallery’s owners, Leonora Pitt, last night revealed details of what happened as she warned other shopkeepers of falling victim to the same scam.

She said: “They came in and went straight to the best and most expensive jewellery. The man said he was wanting to buy presents for his family.

“He asked to look at many different pieces and the sales assistant was watching him like a hawk.”

After selecting several different items, the man asked to have them gift wrapped and said he wanted to look at the silverware on display. He then chose three large silver objects and waited while the woman serving him took down a note of each piece and made out a receipt.

When asked to pay the conman pulled out a large amount of cash and handed it to the shop assistant.

Mrs Pitt said: “She counted it out and said to him ‘there’s not enough money here’ and he said ‘don’t worry, I will go and get some more’.”

He pushed the bag back across the sales counter and left the shop and staff then realised that the small packet of jewellery was missing.

“It was worth about £8,000. We are a very small gallery and this is an absolute catastrophe for us,” Mrs Pitt added.

“What is important is that other people are on the look out for these characters. They are complete con artists.”

Verandah is shutting down on Christmas Eve due to what the owners described as difficult trading conditions in North Parade. Mrs Pitt said of the December 9 theft: “This is our last Christmas and it has soured it.

The men are described as being Eastern European, one was taller and of large build wearing dark grey trousers and light grey jumper.

The second man was shorter with a slim build and wore dark trousers and black shirt. One of the men had lots of gold teeth.

Police spokesman Chris Kearney said: “We are looking into this incident which we are currently treating as a shoplifting offence.

“We would appeal for anyone recognising the description of the men to come forward. It is quite unique jewellery and we would also ask anyone offered items like this for sale to contact us.”

Anyone with information can call Pc Stephen Mather on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.