British Museum curator stole 1800 items

[pepperj]

The British Museum is suing a former curator it says stole 1,800 items and tried to sell them

The British Museum is suing a former curator alleged to have stolen hundreds of artifacts from its collections and offered them for sale online

abcnews.go.com

 

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[Mackaydon]

Reminds me of this theft 17 years ago:

SUSPECT PLEADS GUILTY IN ANA MONEY MUSEUM THEFT - American Numismatic Association

SUSPECT PLEADS GUILTY IN ANA MONEY MUSEUM THEFTCOLORADO SPRINGS – Former ANA collections manager Wyatt Yeager entered a guilty plea today in Federal District Court in Wilmington, DE, to the theft of approximately 300 historically significant coins and other numismatic objects, valued at...

www.money.org

Don in SoCal

 

[villagenut]

I reckon we detectorists are not so bad after all......

 

[Tnmountains]

I would never donate anything to any museum.

 

[scruggs]

Crime does not pay!

 

[Joecoins]

I would never donate anything to any museum.

Deaccessioning.​

Feels like a scam. They can chose what they want up for sale... And what friends want.... Also. Who would donate if they new it would be sold to some unknown collector..

 

[smokeythecat]

And we're surprised why?

 

[Chilli]

The British Museum is suing a former curator it says stole 1,800 items and tried to sell them

The British Museum is suing a former curator alleged to have stolen hundreds of artifacts from its collections and offered them for sale online

abcnews.go.com

Can I say this!?
From my perspective here. Britain stripped Oz of all its gold from goldrush times and guess where our reserves sit and after ask and ask even now "where is our Aussie Gold!?" the mouths are ziiiiiiped!
Am I here surprised someone learnt well and followed suit?
😂 Nahh...

 

[ToddsPoint]

Back in the late 70s a young guy employed at the IL State Museum was busted for selling Samurai swords out the back door. Museum employees have “no skin in the game”. Private collectors do.

 

[pepperj]

Reminds me of this theft 17 years ago:

SUSPECT PLEADS GUILTY IN ANA MONEY MUSEUM THEFT - American Numismatic Association

SUSPECT PLEADS GUILTY IN ANA MONEY MUSEUM THEFTCOLORADO SPRINGS – Former ANA collections manager Wyatt Yeager entered a guilty plea today in Federal District Court in Wilmington, DE, to the theft of approximately 300 historically significant coins and other numismatic objects, valued at...

www.money.org

Don in SoCal

 

[Red-Coat]

It's a tale of woe. Here's a bit more flesh on the bone.

The British Museum made its first announcement about stolen, missing or damaged items from its collection on 16 August 2023, saying that there was an ongoing investigation by the Metropolitan Police. A member of staff had been dismissed in July for gross misconduct (later named as Dr. Peter Higgs, a long-serving curator of Greek and Roman art who had been promoted to the senior position of acting keeper of the department of Greece and Rome in January 2021). Auditing of parts of the museum’s collection in a storeroom established that around 1,800 items could not be accounted for or were damaged (now revised to around 2,000 items).

In fact the museum had been alerted to possible theft more than two years earlier, but had dismissed the suggestion. In 2020 Professor Martin Henig, an expert in engraved gemstones, identified part of a Roman signet ring, which was available for sale, as belonging to the British Museum. After the item was returned, Henig, with the scholar and art dealer Dr. Ittai Gradel, found evidence of other items for sale which had seemingly been stolen from the collection. Despite their attempts to highlight this to the museum in 2021, their warnings were dismissed after the museum’s investigation incorrectly concluded the claims had no basis. This may in part have been because the thief, now alleged to have been Higgs who was aware of the investigation, successfully covered his tracks.

On the advice of recovery specialists and the police, the museum has not shared full details of the items, except that the vast majority are from the Department of Greece and Rome, mainly in the categories of gems and jewellery, but also including other items such as small sculptural fragments and Greek pottery. Around 356 items have since been recovered, some of which are now on display or pictured on the museum’s website, and another 300 items identified but not (yet) recovered.

A couple of recovered intaglios:

© The Trustees of the British Museum.

In the wake of severe criticism about its record-keeping and security procedures, the museum’s director, Hartwig Fischer resigned.

Although Higgs has not (yet) been charged with any offence, he is still under investigation and is being sued by the British Museum. He didn’t attend the court hearing on 26 March, claiming “poor health” but his legal representatives said he denied all the allegations against him. The allegations include that he “abused his position of trust” and took the items over a 10-year period, selling them on eBay sometimes for as little as $51, but usually well below their market value.

Legal representatives for the museum said that about three-quarters of the 2,000 items in question had been stolen or were missing. Another 350 items had had portions removed, such as gold or silver mounts for gems, which had probably been sold for scrap. About 140 items had been damaged by tool marks. The museum said it believed the thefts “took place over a considerable period of time” and that a “key target appears to have been unregistered items – mainly gems and jewellery – in the department of Greece and Rome”. Unregistered items are usually small objects documented as part of a collection, but which don’t have detailed catalogue records for each individual item.

It was also said that Higgs tried to hide his activities using fake names, false documents and manipulation of museum records. The court heard that the museum had evidence of Higgs altering at least 83 digital internal records relating to stolen, damaged or missing items. He is further accused of impeding the museum’s investigation into the thefts by suggesting that a colleague should delete their texts and emails and refusing to release relevant information. The police are using an independent computer specialist to access devices seized during a search of Higgs’ home on 16 August 2023. The court was told that, during the search, the police had also seized a collection of ancient bronze coins and medals which the museum says matches a collection of registered and unregistered coins kept in the museum's Greek and Roman department. Higgs claimed the coins and medals came from a deceased relative. The police had also seized handwritten notes and printed instructions on how to edit the museum's records.

A High Court order was made that Higgs must list or return any stolen items within four weeks and disclose any eBay or Paypal records which may contain evidence of sales being made.

 

[TDogger]

This probably happens a lot more than people want to believe. Older museums have tens of thousands of items that have been documented and placed in storage. Unless they do an inventory or wish to put something on display, they might never know if something is missing.