A mystery person used a COVID lockdown to uncover a slow drip of theft from the museum’s antiquities collection.
Three months after the world was shut down amid the discovery of the coronavirus, an expert in antiquities contacted the British Museum with a red-hot tip that had become an obsession.
The European expert contacted the museum – whose collection includes about 8 million items of human art and culture – via a middleman and the findings were passed on. A senior member of staff assured the finder that the matter would be investigated. The expert reportedly contacted the eBay seller in 2016 and asked if he was Higgs, but the seller denied this.
No arrests have yet been made, although the museum has committed to pursue legal action in the event of an arrest. It has been reported the items, which staff are now attempting to recover, are not insured. There has been no suggestion the stolen items had been taken for any ideological or political reason, such as repatriation.
Professor Martin Henig, a specialist in Roman engraved gems, said on Friday he and a colleague had also turned detective some years ago after spotting part of an ancient signet ring, thought to be in the museum’s collection, on sale by a private dealer.George Osborne, a former UK chancellor who is the museum’s chairman, said the trustees were “extremely concerned” when they learnt earlier this year that items of the collection had been stolen and had taken decisive action.
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