An investigation has been launched after a number of high value items were discovered to have gone missing from the British Museum in London. The exact nature of the artefacts has not been revealed, but press reports in the UK have suggested that they are mostly small pieces of jewellery and semi-precious stones, items which it would be easy to pocket, and that they date from between the 15th century BC and the 19th century AD.
The Museum has issued very little information on the thefts, pending an investigation, but several newspapers have named the main suspect as Peter Higgs, formerly a senior curator and head of the Department of Greece and Rome, who was dismissed by the Museum earlier this year. Higgs has not spoken to the press, but his son has issued a statement denying any wrongdoing had taken place, and claiming his father felt betrayed and undervalued by the museum.
Uncatagorised items from the Museum's collection are reported to have been sold online as early as 2016, but more recent thefts apparently came from the Museum's main inventory, and were spotted much more quickly. The thefts have led to questions being asked about security at the Museum by arts and antiquities experts, particularly those who investigate missing and stolen items. The British Museum is home to over six million objects, including many alleged to have been removed from their countries of origin without consent. The Museum has been reluctant to discuss the repatriation of such objects, often citing poor security in the affected countries as evidence artefacts are safer in its collections, something which has now been called into question.
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