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THE British Museum in London has launched a web page for items that are still missing in the hope of being relocated. Around the same time this page went live, dozens of items stolen from the museum are now back in the collection.
A press release published on September 26 said: “It has been confirmed that 60 items have now been
have returned, and 300 others have been identified and are expected to be repatriated shortly.
Museums Web page does not share full details of lost and damaged items, only information about gems and jewelry that the institution believes is missing through images and details of similar pieces still in its collection. If this seems confusing, that’s because only about 4.5 million of the 8 million objects in the British Museum’s collection have been photographed and inventoried.
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Museums first announcement of missing objects on August 16 describes them as small pieces of “jewelry made of gold and semi-precious stones and glass dating from the 15th century BC to the 19th century”.
The “vast majority of the (missing) objects come from the department of Greece and Rome”, with some jewelry dating from the late Bronze Age (ca. 15th to 11th century BCE). Prior to these thefts, they were kept at the British Museum primarily for academic and research purposes.
The newly launched webpage also states that the British Museum has registered the missing objects with the Art Loss Register and is actively monitoring the art market. The museum also said it had continued to work in partnership with the Metropolitan Police Service and had “established an international panel of specialists, including leading figures in the study of gems and jewelry, who will offer their expertise to help us identify and recover lost items.
“The British Museum’s approach has carefully balanced the need to provide information to the public to support recovery efforts with the fact that providing too much detail risks playing into the hands of those who might act in bad faith,” said the Director of Art Loss Register Recoveries. James Ratcliffe wrote in a press release. “We are delighted to provide pro bono assistance to the Museum’s excellent team to support their efforts. »
In addition to Ratcliffe, the international panel includes Lynda Albertson of the Association for Research into Crimes Against Art, as well as other specialists in the field of precious stones and antique jewelry.
While the British Museum has set up an email address (recovery@britishmuseum.org) for anyone with information or suspicion of having some of the stolen items, an expert is not optimistic. “The only thing that will come out of this website is a wave of tips from garage sales around the world,” said Erin Thompson, a artistic crime professor and John Jay College, said ARTnews.
Before the launch of the web page, the museum’s president, George Osborne, had talked about the recovery of some of the 2,000 stolen items in an interview with BBC Radio 4. Osborne called the situation “a glimmer of hope on a dark cloud” but acknowledged the thefts had seriously damaged the museum’s international reputation.
The British Museum initial announcement August 16 over missing and stolen items, including an overhaul of its security protocols and the firing of an unnamed staff member, quickly became a scandal for the institution. The anonymous individual was identified in news reports as Peter Higgs, veteran curator of Greek antiquities. Emails from Danish art expert and art historian Ittai Gradel, examined by several media outlets, showed that several senior museum officials warned of thefts in 2021 after Gradel saw items listed on eBay for just $51. Director Hartwig Fischer immediately resigned following the scandal of August 25, after having previously announced that he leave early next year. Greek and Nigerian officials also renewed calls for the repatriation of the Parthenon marbles and museum objects. large collection of bronzes from Benin.
The day before the web page is launched, THE National reported that the British Museum bought an ancient Egyptian artifact from an art dealer who was convicted of antiquities smuggling.
The shabti figurine is found in many ancient Egyptian tombs. Museum records show that a shabti dating from the 13th dynasty of ancient Egypt (1782-1650 BCE) was purchased in 2017 from the Palmyra Heritage Gallery. The gallery’s owner, New York antiques dealer Mousa Khouli, also known as Morris Khouli, pleaded guilty to smuggling Egyptian cultural property to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 2012.
The British Museum said National that the shabti was currently the subject of an investigation by American authorities, with whom he was cooperating.
