The British Museum is suing its former senior curator Peter Higgs, accusing him of aggravated theft.
The Museum of London was granted entry to the sacked worker’s eBay and PayPal information at present (March 26) after detailed allegations had been made to London’s Excessive Court docket that objects from its assortment had been stolen through the years. A decide will order Higgs to reveal details about the artifacts he’s accused of stealing. Higgs was fired final August after 30 years working within the museum’s Greek assortment.
The museum alleges that Higgs peddled the stolen assortment to greater than 45 consumers over a 10-year interval, and claims that the previous director used aliases and even tampered with artifact information to confuse the general public. In accordance with the British Museum, Higgs primarily stole historical gems and gold jewelery from storage rooms. The works haven’t been lately exhibited and a few haven’t been formally documented.
George Osborne, chairman of the board of administrators, informed the media that the museum has a group of about 8 million objects, solely about 1% of that are on show. British Broadcasting Company Final summer season, about 2,000 artworks that weren’t on show went lacking.
Higgs reportedly didn’t seem in courtroom Tuesday however was represented by his lawyer, who plans to contest the costs. British Broadcasting Company.There was no fast response from the British Museum allergicRequest for remark.
A London Metropolitan Police raid on Seager’s house final August uncovered directions on the way to alter information of objects and historical Greek and Roman cash that the museum claimed had been stolen from its assortment, however Seager’s house was discovered to have been stolen, in response to at present’s listening to. Si denied this declare.
In 2021, two antiquities sellers individually flagged collectibles showing on eBay. Denmark’s Ittai Gradel reportedly bought the gemstone together with 69 different objects from the identical vendor on eBay, which he disclosed to the museum, noting that he suspected the gross sales had been facilitated by a workers member. The museum subsequently launched an inside investigation however discovered no proof of wrongdoing.
In 2023, as Higgs was fired and experiences of the theft surfaced, the British Museum’s then-director Hartwig Fischer voluntarily resigned, saying the establishment had “no warning about 2021” Make a due and complete response.” and bear legal responsibility for losses.
The museum has since recovered some 356 stolen objects and sought the general public’s assist in finding the remaining earlier than saying final October that it could totally digitize its assortment over the following 5 years.
Whereas the museum seems to be doing effectively with its exhibit of stolen gems which can be being recovered, the thefts have reignited bids to return the Parthenon marbles and Benin bronzes to Greece and Nigeria respectively, given safety considerations on the museum.
