The British museum are pleading for help from the public, to help locate and recover nearly 2000 artefacts that have been believed to be stolen from its collection.
On the 16th August 2023, the British Museum declared that a number of its items of jewellery had been found missing, with many suspected to be stolen or damaged. An ongoing investigation was established, and the museum itself has been working closing with the Metropolitan police. Peter Higgens a now former head of department of the museum has since been dismissed.
Yet the museum acknowledge that this is not enough, and have urged the public to help track down the items even further.
The museum is determined to recover the artefacts and believe that members of the public will be highly beneficial. So far the museum have stated that only 60 items have been returned and a further 300 have been identified. The museum has accepted that there is still a long way to go and has now posted pictures on their website.
The majority of the items are Greek and Roman Jewellery, including rings, necklaces, earrings and other piece of jewellery, gems and intaglio stones. Many items of Jewellery are even dating back to the Bronze age period.
An email hotline has been set up, so people can inform the museum of any information they have, that will be useful in adding the recovery of the items. The email itself is: recovery@britishmuseum.org
The museum itself is also taking further action to help recover the items, they have taken action to register the missing items with the Art Loss Register; the museum is actively keeping an eye out on the art market, and they have put together a team in international specialists who have in-depth knowledge and expertise in the study of gems and jewellery. The museum hopes they will be able to assist in identifying the lost items.
Due to the turmoil events of the museum, the Director Hartwig Fischer has stepped down, as he acknowledged that “ he did not respond comprehensively as he should have” when he was first told about the artefacts.
Other countries across the world have also taking the opportunity to but further pressure on the institution of the museum, demanding for the return of other museum items to their counties of origins. This particularly includes China, who created a series of video reels in hope that it would spark the return of their originally owned artefacts.
The consequence of the events have been incredibly damaging to the reputation of the museum. With more and more people challenging the security and long run history of the museums motives.