Alia Shoaib
Sat, August 19, 2023
Several jewelry items worth up to $63,000 were stolen from the British Museum in London.
Items later appeared on eBay, priced for as little as $50.
A museum curator suspected of being behind the thefts was fired, and police are investigating.
A curator has been fired from the British Museum in London after stolen jewelry was found being sold cheaply on eBay, a report says.
Some of the items were worth up to £50,000, or approximately $63,000, and were listed on eBay for as little as £40, or $50, according to British newspaper The Telegraph.
An antiquities expert reported suspicion that a staff member was stealing from secure vaults at the museum in 2013, and the missing items began turning up on eBay three years later.
Peter Higgs, 56, who held the position of curator of Mediterranean cultures at the museum for over three decades, was fired after an internal investigation.
Higgs' 21-year-old son Greg maintained that his father is innocent.
"He's not done anything," Greg Higgs said, per The Times of London. "He's not happy about it at all. He's lost his job and his reputation and I don't think it was fair."
"He's devastated about it, because it's his life's work, basically. I've never known somebody who's so passionate about what he did."
The museum said on Wednesday that several items of jewelry made of gold, semi-precious stones, and glass, dating from between 1,500 BC and the 19th century AD, were among those missing, The Telegraph reported. Other items had been damaged.
One piece of ancient Roman jewelry made from onyx – that a dealer said was valued between £25,000 and £50,000, or $32,000 and $63,000 – was listed on eBay with a minimum price of £40, or around $50, in 2016. Nobody made a bid for the treasure, however, The Telegraph reported.
The police are now investigating the thefts.
The museum has not properly cataloged all eight million items in its collection, which makes it easier for thefts to go undetected, sources told The Telegraph.
"Major things do get cataloged. There are a lot of minor things which are not, or which are all lumped together," Professor Martin Henig, a Roman art expert at the University of Oxford, told the paper.
An independent review is underway to establish what is missing, attempting to recover the missing items and preventing future thefts.
A spokesman for the British Museum told the paper: "We have conducted a thorough investigation, identified the person we believe to be responsible, and that person has been dismissed. We are also taking further robust action to ensure this can never happen again."
"The whole question of thefts at the museum is now subject to a criminal investigation, so we cannot comment further."
Lola Christina Alao
Mon, 21 August 2023
British Museum (John Walton / PA Wire)
Police are currently investigating the theft of antiquities from the British Museum.
The British Museum, a public collection dedicated to human history, art, and culture, is home to millions of valuable objects.
It has a permanent display of eight million works, which is said to be the largest in the world. Ranked third in the list of most-visited art museums in the world, the British Museum was established in 1753 and first opened to the public in 1759.
As the investigation unfolds, here’s what we know about what has happened so far.
What has been stolen from the British Museum?
The items include gold, jewellery, and gems of semi-precious stones that date from the 15th century BC to the 19th century AD.
Former trustee Sir Nigel Boardman and Lucy D’Orsi, the chief constable of the British Transport Police, will lead an independent review for the museum and make recommendations on future security arrangements. It will also “kickstart a vigorous programme to recover the missing items”, the museum said.
A spokesperson for the Met said: “We have been working alongside the British Museum. There is currently an ongoing investigation – there is no arrest and inquiries continue. We will not be providing any further information at this time.”
How has the museum responded?
The British Museum has sacked a member of staff after artefacts, some nearly 3,500 years old, were reported “missing, stolen, or damaged”.
Most of the missing items were small pieces kept in a storeroom belonging to one of the museum’s collections. None had recently been on public display, and they were kept primarily for academic and research purposes.
​​George Osborne, the museum’s chair, said: “The trustees of the British Museum were extremely concerned when we learned earlier this year that items of the collection had been stolen.
“The trustees have taken decisive action to deal with the situation, working with the team at the museum. We called in the police, imposed emergency measures to increase security, set up an independent review into what happened and lessons to learn, and used all the disciplinary powers available to us to deal with the individual we believe to be responsible.
“Our priority is now threefold: first, to recover the stolen items; second, to find out what, if anything, could have been done to stop this; and third, to do whatever it takes, with investment in security and collection records, to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
“This incident only reinforces the case for the reimagination of the museum we have embarked upon. It’s a sad day for all who love our British Museum, but we’re determined to right the wrongs and use the experience to build a stronger museum.”
Hartwig Fischer, the museum’s director, said: “This is a highly unusual incident. We take the safeguarding of all the items in our care extremely seriously.
“The museum apologises for what has happened, but we have now brought an end to this – and we are determined to put things right.
“We have already tightened our security arrangements and we are working alongside outside experts to complete a definitive account of what is missing, damaged, and stolen. This will allow us to throw our efforts into the recovery of objects.”
Boardman said: “The British Museum has been the victim of theft and we are absolutely determined to use our review in order to get to the bottom of what happened, and ensure lessons are learned. We are working alongside the Metropolitan Police in the interest of criminal justice to support any investigations.
“Furthermore, the recovery programme will work to ensure the stolen items are returned to the museum. It will be a painstaking job, involving internal and external experts, but this is an absolute priority – however long it takes – and we are grateful for the help we have already received.”
The museum will not be commenting further while the investigation is ongoing.
Who has been blamed for the theft?
Peter John Higgs, 56, was revealed by his son as the staff member sacked from his role.
Mr Higgs is a senior curator who worked at the British Museum for 30 years. Legal action is being taken against Mr Higgs and the matter is also being investigated by the economic crime command of the Metropolitan police. However, he has not been arrested and maintains his innocence.
Mr Higgs’s son Greg on Thursday told The Times that his father’s dismissal had come as a shock.
“He’s not done anything,” he said. “He’s not happy about it at all. He’s lost his job and his reputation and I don’t think it was fair. It couldn’t have been [him]. I don’t think there is even anything missing as far as I’m aware.
“He worked there for what, 35 years without any incidents. They relied on him for so much stuff. And then, yeah, I don’t know what changed.
“He’s devastated about it, because it’s his life’s work, basically. I’ve never known somebody who’s so passionate about what he did. I mean, he’s a world expert in his field.”
Why won’t the British Museum return stolen artefacts?
More than half of the UK public would like to see the Elgin Marbles repatriated to Greece (PA Archive)
The British Museum has been under fire to return artefacts that it has taken from other countries.
For instance, British Museum director Hartwig Fischer has defended the act, stating that Elgin’s removal of sculptures from the Parthenon in the early 1800s was a “creative act”, and reiterated that the museum’s trustees would not support repatriating them to Athens.
This has provoked an international backlash, and more than half of the British public would like to see them returned to Greece.
The museum’s deaccessioning policy forbids the return of any object in the British Museum’s collection unless it is a duplicate, physically damaged, or “unfit to be retained in the collection” and no longer of public interest.
The British Museum Act of 1963 also prohibits the institution from returning works. Though, as public pressure continues to grow, the future of the British Museum’s repatriation policy may be in jeopardy.
No comments:
Post a Comment