The Dresden Plate's Disappearance

The case of The Dresden Plate's Disappearance is the seventh case featured in the Gosick anime series.

Kazuya Kujo's first stroll with his newest friend Avril Bradley unexpectedly becomes the discovery of a case to solve when an expensive-looking plate disappears in the middle of the daytime market on a town in Sauville.

Background
After a British girl named Avril Bradley was rescued from Kuiaran the Second, Kazuya decides to accompany her in trips around the school and the nearest town. In one of their strolls, Kazuya and Avril go to the market. Among the sights in the market are various wares sold by people from across town and other places, and among those people is a lady dressed in nun's clothes.

Although Avril planned on looking for something shiny to lure a Gray Wolf with, she is eventually enticed to visit the nun's stall. The nun begins to show the different things she has for sale, and Avril becomes interested with a plate displayed on the nightstand, later identified as the Dresden Plate. Kazuya suspects the price might be too much for either of them to afford, so they decide not to touch the delicate piece of art.

The nun soon hands over a much more affordable item in her display: a wooden music box with a wind-up mechanism. Avril decides to try the music box if it works, but after winding it several times, a puff of smoke startled her, followed by a flock of pigeons flying out from the smoke.

Then, to the horror of the nun and the observers, the Dresden Plate is nowhere to be found.

Profiles
The Dresden Plate is an expensize plate probably originated and crafted from Germany (as Dresden is a city in Germany). The plate is decorated with intricate curves and has six figures of flowers. It might have served as a charger plate for aristocratic or otherwise wealthy families' tables, or as a decorative plate.

It is not known how it arrived from its original source to Sauville, but according to the nun's reports, it was donated to the church by a parishioner's wife.

Persons Involved

 * Mildred Arbogast - the nun who owns the store where the Dresden Plate disappeared.

Progress
Kazuya decides to report the discovery of the case to Victorique de Blois, including certain clues he discovered himself, particularly the strong scent of alcohol that he smelled on the nun's store. To Kazuya's — and eventually, Inspector Grevil de Blois's — surprise, Victorique does not see the case as anything that would require an intensive analysis, and instantly orders Grevil to arrest the nun who is supposed to own the store.

Conclusion
In spite of the speedy conclusion to the case, some key details are left undisclosed, including whether the nun is performing a mere thievery or if there is something else to the case; however, Victorique conclusion suggests that the case is a simple robbery.

The nun is supposedly arrested by Grevil the same day, but it has been published in Le Petit Saubure that the whereabouts of the Dresden Plate remains unknown.

Implications on Future Events
On Kazuya and Victorique's journey to Horovitz, they discover that the nun who is supposed to have been arrested after the conclusion of the Dresden Plate disappearance is still at large. While the reason why she was still free is still unknown, Victorique and Kazuya decide to be friendly with the mysterious nun, who would accompany them to the trip to the Village of the Gray Wolves.

Trivia

 * Sächsische Porzellanmanufaktur Dresden, often known as simply Dresden Porcelain in English, is a German porcelain factory located in Freital near Dresden which has been making porcelain wares since 1872. The Dresden Plate might be based on porcelain plates made by this factory.