A solid gold Roman bangle, a chain with lion-head clasps from Cyprus and finely engraved blue, green and carmine cameos were featured in photographs of items resembling those stolen from the British Museum. On September 26, the museum published on its website details the most important, and also the most embarrassing investigation in its history. The affair came to the notice of the public on August 16, 2023, when the institution revealed that around 2,000 pieces – mainly gold jewelry, semi-precious stones and glassware dating from 1500 BC to the 19th century – had disappeared from its storerooms.
It was not the result of a spectacular heist organized by seasoned cat burglars, but in all likelihood, a progressive looting of items over several years, or even decades, which found their way into the pockets of a museum employee; namely one Peter Higgs, the former head of the Greek antiquities department, who had worked at the British Museum for over 30 years, before being dismissed in January 2023 when his employer began to suspect him of theft and degradation.
As it was an ongoing police investigation, the museum had declined, until now, to comment further, even when The Telegraph revealed in mid-August that jewelry estimated at over €57,000 had been offered for sale on eBay for derisory sums – sometimes, less than €50. A fact confirmed by the art consultant Ivan Macquisten, who had close contact with collectors who alerted the British Museum as early as 2016, and who in his opinion, were not taken seriously enough.
The British Museum has now requested potential buyers to report suspicious items and to contact them via an address dedicated to the return of lost antiquities: "If you are concerned that you may be or may have been in possession of objects belonging to the British Museum, or if you have any other information that could help us, please email us."
In addition to its appeal to the public, the institution said in a press release that it is working with several high-profile experts, as well as with the Art Loss Register, the largest computer database in the art world, in which more than "400,000 items a year are checked by the register." "If the stolen pieces appear in it, they will be identified," the museum said. But the problem is that "most of the stolen items (…) have never been photographed, or catalogued," said Macquisten and conceded that it would be an impossible task: The British Museum owns 8 million statues, paintings and other relics, including major works that relegate even the most elaborately worked Greek jewelry to the status of trinkets.
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