British Museum cries theft as 2000 items reported missing from collections

The British Museum sounded alarm bells, discovering almost 2000 precious items were stolen. Photo / Tara Menzi, Unsplash

The British Museum, one of the world’s largest historic collections, has sounded the alarm bell after discovering almost 2000 items missing.

Last Monday the museum said it had alerted the Metropolitan Police that a number of items were stolen, damaged or missing from collections.

Between 1500 and 2000 items were the focus of investigation after a long-running scheme was exposed, in some cases selling items online. Museum trustees said they were reviewing security and a member of staff had been dismissed.

Museum chair and former editor of The London Evening Standard, George Osborne said that they had “called in police” and “imposed emergency measures to increase security.”

“The Trustees of the British Museum were extremely concerned when we learnt earlier this year that items of the collection had been stolen. The Trustees have taken decisive action to deal with the situation,” he said.

What’s been stolen from the British Museum?

A statement from the museum said that the stolen items included gold jewellery and precious stones. The objects represented almost four millennia of history, from the 15th century BC to the 19th century AD.

The Evening Standard said that there were almost 2000 items known to have been lifted from the collections.

They were described as mostly small objects, being kept in a storeroom, and were not on public display.

No estimated value has been given by the museum, which says it will not be providing further comment.

The collections were reportedly alerted to the scandal after listed items from the British Museum appeared on online auction website eBay, being sold for a fraction of their value.

A Roman Imperial cameo from the first century AD was among one of the items, identified by The Telegraph, and listed by Sultan1966 for £40 - around $86. Precious objects had been identified, sold via the website as early as 2016.

Items from the British Museum have been appearing on the auction and shopping website as early as 2016. Photo / Screenshot

The museum staff member, sacked in connection with the theft, was identified as 56-year-old Peter John Higgs.

The former senior curator had spent 30 years working with the museum collections.

Higgs has not been arrested and is cooperating with the Metropolitan police.

On Thursday the curator’s son Greg Higgs told The Times that his father was innocent, and has been unfairly dismissed.

“He’s lost his job and his reputation and I don’t think it was fair. It couldn’t have been [him],” he said.

The museum says there is a large scale effort to recover any missing artefacts.

“This is a highly unusual incident,” said museum director Hartwig Fischer, who said they were still compiling a definitive list of the items that were missing from the collection

“This will allow us to throw our efforts into the recovery of objects.”

British Museum: A history of theft

Since opening in 1759 the historic London museum in Bloomsbury has assembled a collection of over 8 million objects on public display and proudly claims to display over “2 million years of history”.

This collection, largely claimed to be one of the biggest in the world, is a source of controversy.

Many pundits claimed hypocrisy when the British Museum said it had been the victim of theft.

In its 260-year history many items are alleged to have been obtained through questionable means. There are several important cultural items from other countries, which have been requested to be returned.

In some cases items are returned on loan to their countries of origin, such as Te Rā - a Māori flaxen sail which is currently in Christchurch, on loan by the British Museum collections. However, they eventually must return to London.

In recent years objects such as The Elgin Marbles and the Benin Bronzes have become hot political issues for the state-owned UK museum.

In 2021 the museum said it was working with counterparts in 20 Nigeria “to a new permanent display of Benin works of art in Benin City” of the Bronzes which were “looted from the royal palace” by British Soldiers in 1897.

The Elgin Marbles, which originated from the Parthenon temple on the Athens Acropolis, have been requested to be returned to the Greek Government. Something that director Hartwig Fischer has resisted.

The British Museum Act of 1963 also prohibits the institution from returning works.

Repatriating the artefacts has become a cause celebre supported by high-profile activists and actors including George Cloony, who in 2014 requested the marbles be returned to the ‘Pantheon’ - a similarly named temple in Rome.

He later corrected this request to the Parthenon and has since been working with wife, Amal to have the marbles returned to Athens.