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That's really sad, and outrageous...
I can't understand his motives.
The museum believes him to be guilty of stealing tens of millions of pounds worth of items for the museum.
The institution said the items included “gold jewellery and gems of semi-precious stones and glass dating from the 15th century BC to the 19th century AD”.
The dismissed employee has been named as Peter Higgs, 56, who was the museum’s curator of Greek collections.
Higgs had been working at the museum for over 30 years.
It also seems that the museum didn't have proper inventory procedures and many items weren't on inventory list. That's pretty negligent... It's a national treasure.
That's really sad, and outrageous...
I can't understand his motives.
The museum believes him to be guilty of stealing tens of millions of pounds worth of items for the museum.
The institution said the items included “gold jewellery and gems of semi-precious stones and glass dating from the 15th century BC to the 19th century AD”.
The dismissed employee has been named as Peter Higgs, 56, who was the museum’s curator of Greek collections.
Higgs had been working at the museum for over 30 years.
It also seems that the museum didn't have proper inventory procedures and many items weren't on inventory list. That's pretty negligent... It's a national treasure.
The Metropolitan Police including the Art and Antiques Unit are now involved, and they will track down any stolen items.
As for the Museum, they are reviewing their security, however you don't generally expect a trusted employee in the shape of a Curator to act in this fashion, and the individual now faces the courts and a prison sentence.
In terms of Peter Higgs, he was a senior curator and expert in Greek sculpture and the Hellenistic age, who worked at the British Museum for 30 years.
It is believed the items were taken over a period of time. None were on display at the museum but were among millions of objects kept in its stores, and they were generally very small objects.
A British Museum spokesperson said: “Obviously stealing is not only a breach of law, but a breach of professional ethics. But circumstances such as what appears to have happened at the British Museum are incredibly rare".
Last edited by Brave New World; 08-20-2023 at 05:35 AM..
As for London's museum storage, the closure of the vast magnificent Grade II Blythe House storage facility at,West Kensington, which was used by the British Museum, Science Museum and V&A, has led to the construction of a lot of new storage facilities, with many becoming museums in their own right and are open to researchers and the public. As for Blythe House, it's most likely to be carefully restored and refurbished, before being turned in to luxury hotel or apartments etc.
The British Museum Archaeological Research Collection (BM_ARC) at the Thames Valley Science Park, will provide a home for many of the two million artefacts currently kept at Blythe House, west London, which is to close in 2023. The British Museum itself has also undergone a massive extension in relation to it's own site in Bloomsbury in London, with a good deal of the new space relating to storage, care and restoration of the collection.
The Natural History Museum's Unlocked Programme will see a further 28 million specimens move to the Thames Valley Science Park (TVSP) in partnership with the University of Reading, whilst the Museum is also opening a new science and digitisation centre at Harwell in Oxfordshire.
Whilst the V&A has opened new museums, which will allow more of it's collection on display, the new Museums are in Dundee in Scotland and in Stratford in London as part of the East Bank project at the Queen Elizabeth Park.
The Science Museum as constructed a vast new storage facility at it's site at Wroughton in Wiltshire which also serves as a museum and is open to the general public.
The Arts Council and British Council, are also planning to display over 17,000 works of art from their collections, under proposed schem., in relation to a now closed 580,218 sq ft (53,904 sq m) former IKEA building near the centre of Coventry. This will help free up storage space at two storage facilities.
The Tate gallery has also opened much more it's collection to the public at various Tate sites in Liverpool and St Ives in Cornwall, whilst the Turner Contemporary in Margate has allowed more of Turner's work to be displayed.
In terms of the British Library, they are extending their site at St Pancras, which will include, the Alan Turing institute, a national centre for data science and artificial intelligence. Whilst they are also redeveloping and expanding their storage site at Boston Spa near Leeds which will include new public reading rooms and other facilities, as well as opening a new library at the vast historic and impressive Temple Works building in Leeds.
There are numerous other such projects as well as more loans and sharing between museums, meaning that more of stored collections are now open to the public and are less likely to linger in storage or go missing.
Last edited by Brave New World; 08-20-2023 at 07:45 AM..
Bosses at the British Museum were last night accused of showing a 'lack of reaction' when they were warned about stolen treasures being sold online.
The Mail on Sunday has learned that Dr Ittai Gradel, an expert in Roman antiquities, raised the alarm after spotting artefacts for sale that had appeared in a museum catalogue almost a century ago.
Speaking yesterday, the Danish academic said: 'I alerted the British Museum on 28 February 2021. I was - shall we say - not pleased with the reaction or lack of reaction that I had from them.'
He suggested that the culprit may have also taken 'unregistered items' from the museum collection, but 'became so sloppy that they put on eBay two items that had been published in the British Museum catalogue from 1926.
I recognised them - he said... https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...arly-2021.html
That's really sad, and outrageous... I can't understand his motives.
The museum believes him to be guilty of stealing tens of millions of pounds worth of items for the museum.
The institution said the items included “gold jewellery and gems of semi-precious stones and glass dating from the 15th century BC to the 19th century AD”.
The dismissed employee has been named as Peter Higgs, 56, who was the museum’s curator of Greek collections.
Higgs had been working at the museum for over 30 years.
It also seems that the museum didn't have proper inventory procedures and many items weren't on inventory list. That's pretty negligent... It's a national treasure.
Then you have those who steal items out of some infatuation with them and or on "order" for person or persons who do.
Huge amounts of art, artefacts and other valuables have gone missing over years, good amount of it is in private hands (personal collections) or even collections of art dealers and museums. All would rather die than return said property.
Leaving aside things taken (or rather looted) during wars or other horrible events museums and other collections lose things to outright theft. This can be an outside and or inside job.
Museums are loathe to involve LE or otherwise admit things have gone walkabout for same flannel directors of British museum have spewed for ages. Donors will likely be less inclined to give or lend things if they fear won't be in safe keeping.
Security both front and back for many places is often wholly lacking as well.
So, the beloved and trusted expert has over the years stolen or DESTROYED more than 1,500 objects from the British Museum. Perhaps even close to 2000 object, or more - it appears increasingly likely that we might never know exactly what has been stolen because of gaps in its inventory.
(Some of which are 3,500 years old!)
The total value of artefacts now known to be missing runs into millions of pounds.
Some were auctioned on ebay, some gold ones are believed to be melted and sold as bulk.
Those buyers didn't question the source or alerted authorities, besides one person mentioned on my previous post?
Not all, if any, were sold on "black" market.
Those buyers/collectors were well awared that those goods were stolen, no?
Jonathan Williams, the deputy director was personally warned about the thefts in February 2021 and did nothing.
Peter Higgs has denied any wrongdoing, according to his family, but there must be ways to find out who was putting those artifacts on sale.
So, the beloved and trusted expert has over the years stolen or DESTROYED more than 1,500 objects from the British Museum. Perhaps even close to 2000 object, or more - it appears increasingly likely that we might never know exactly what has been stolen because of gaps in its inventory.
(Some of which are 3,500 years old!)
The total value of artefacts now known to be missing runs into millions of pounds.
Some were auctioned on ebay, some gold ones are believed to be melted and sold as bulk.
Those buyers didn't question the source or alerted authorities, besides one person mentioned on my previous post?
Not all, if any, were sold on "black" market.
Those buyers/collectors were well awared that those goods were stolen, no?
Jonathan Williams, the deputy director was personally warned about the thefts in February 2021 and did nothing.
Peter Higgs has denied any wrongdoing, according to his family, but there must be ways to find out who was putting those artifacts on sale.
The British Museum has launched a review of it's security and have put in place emergency security measures, whilst Scotland Yard are also now involved.
If there is a case to answer then the individual in question will be charged and put before the Criminal Courts, whilst the Museum may take further legal action through the Civil Courts.
As for the British Museums, it has a collection of over 8 million objects, of which 80,000 are currently on display, however you can go to the British Museums Collection online site, which allows access to almost four and a half million objects in more than two million records, and this is increasing all the time.
It also should be noted that new storage facilities are far more secure, and items are both collated on computer systems and scanned in order that they can easily be identified and found. There are also CCTV throughout buildings and regular searches, whilst as already pointed there is a move to put more items on display rather than having them locked away in draws and storage containers.
As for security at major art galleries and museums in London, it's fairly tight, whilst Scotland Yard has dealt with numerous art and antiques cases over the years and was even called in by the Norwegians when Edvard Munch 'The Scream' was stolen, with the Yard eventually helping to both solve the case and return the painting to the gallery in Oslo.
I will wait to see what action is to be taken and the result of both the Scotland Yard investigation and the British Museum review before coming to any conclusion. Whilst it should be noted that neither the museum, nor Scotland Yard which is investigating the theft, have stated how many items are missing or their value, so a lot of this seems to be down to media speculation rather than official confirmation, and the same is true in relation to other such allegations.
As for stock takes revealing missing items, it's a common problem in relation to museums and galleries across the globe, including in Europe and the US, however security and technology is improving the situation.
Whilst it should be noted that neither the museum, nor Scotland Yard which is investigating the theft, have stated how many items are missing or their value, so a lot of this seems to be down to media speculation rather than official confirmation, and the same is true in relation to other such allegations.
That's what bothers me about stories like this. They have click baity titles that imply that all or many of the artifacts were sold for 40 pounds on EBay. When in reality it was just two of the many items stolen.
IMO, the British Museum is the most worthwhile place to visit in the UK. When I lived in the UK, on my first visit to our UK gov't customer, the person we were meeting with dropped everything and gave us a personal tour of the British Museum (we were meeting within walking distance). Afterwards, we had a pint at a pub (I don't remember the name) where Karl Marx worked on his manifesto. One of my fondest memories of the UK.
That's what bothers me about stories like this. They have click baity titles that imply that all or many of the artifacts were sold for 40 pounds on EBay. When in reality it was just two of the many items stolen.
IMO, the British Museum is the most worthwhile place to visit in the UK. When I lived in the UK, on my first visit to our UK gov't customer, the person we were meeting with dropped everything and gave us a personal tour of the British Museum (we were meeting within walking distance). Afterwards, we had a pint at a pub (I don't remember the name) where Karl Marx worked on his manifesto. One of my fondest memories of the UK.
Totally Agree.
Marx and numerous other famous writers could often be found in the British Museum Reading Room and there are some nice old pubs around the Bloomsbury area including the Museum Tavern which Marx was known to frequent.
Other notable figures that frequented the British Museum Reading room included the likes of Sun Yat-sen, Oscar Wilde, Friedrich Hayek, Marcus Garvey, Bram Stoker, Mahatma Gandhi, Rudyard Kipling, George Orwell, George Bernard Shaw, Mark Twain, Vladimir Lenin (using the name Jacob Richter), Virginia Woolf, Arthur Rimbaud, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, H. G. Wells, and Arthur Conan Doyle.
As for the any missing items, I hope that they are found or traced, and I also hope that the museum reviews of it's security leads to major improvements, and that the police uncover any wrong doing in order that those responsible can go before the Courts.
Last edited by Brave New World; 08-22-2023 at 09:34 AM..
That's what bothers me about stories like this. They have click baity titles that imply that all or many of the artifacts were sold for 40 pounds on EBay. When in reality it was just two of the many items stolen.
No, the "click-bait" title said:
Quote:
The British Museum had a number of its artefacts stolen and put up for sale on eBay, with some items selling for as low as £40.
"Some" doesn't equal "all" or "many".
Quote:
When in reality it was just two of the many items stolen.
The reality is that they don't know how many items he sold for "pennies of the dollar".
What bothers me the most is the fact that the person was an educated expert in Mediterranean artifacts, a trusted, long term employee. Not some uneducated thug wanting quick cash to support his drug use.
The trusted person was working there long enough to KNOW the worth and significance of those stolen items.
He took an advantage of the fact that the museums inventory was a mess, and hoped that his theft would go on for a very long time, undetected.
It wasn't a decision of life or death, where he needed quick cash to survive.
He most likely had very decent salary plus whatever he was making for his expertise. It was just greed and opportunity.
Yes, I am aware that theft of anything of value happens every day, but it's especially saddening when it's done by a valuable, trusted employee...
And a bit infuriating that his bosses knew about it, but didn't do anything to stop.
It makes them partners in crime.
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