British Museum Opens Online Base To Search For Stolen Objects

Photo 151876608 © Santiago Rodríguez Fontoba | Dreamstime.com

The British Museum is calling upon online Indiana Joneses to join in on its mission to recover nearly 2,000 antiquities stolen over the past few years, and has launched a webpage detailing these objects.

A former member of the staff, a curator, is suspected to be the mastermind behind the crimes. Upon investigation, the museum fired him and sought to take legal action.

It’s believed that around 60 of these stolen relics have already been reclaimed by the establishment, with another 300 soon to be returned. However, this still leaves a staggering 1,600 missing artifacts. These items, all pilfered from the Greek and Roman department’s storage units, include precious gold jewelry and semi-precious gems.

Among the stolen treasures are Classical Greek and Roman gems—small, intricate objects often found in rings or other settings—and dazzling gold rings, earrings, and jewelry.

Many of them haven’t been cataloged by the museum, which is home to eight million items. Being tiny and discreet, they were most susceptible to theft and their disappearance went under the radar for a while.

The British Museum, careful not to tip off the criminals, has refrained from disclosing the exact details of the stolen pieces. Instead, it has launched a webpage with images of similar items, appealing to the public for help in identifying these missing relics.

The British Museum is asking the public for help to recover around 2,000 stolen artefacts. pic.twitter.com/EYlgivgRkb

— Pop Base (@PopBase) September 26, 2023

“On the advice of recovery specialists, we are not sharing full details of the lost and damaged items at this time. What we can share is the type of material that we believe has been stolen,” outlines the museum.

Divulging the specifics could send criminals into hiding, destroying or melting the treasures to avoid detection, a representative from the museum’s Art Loss Register tells the Art Newspaper.

To thwart this, the British Museum is keeping its cards close to its chest and closely monitoring the art market for any signs of the stolen artifacts. It has also assembled an international panel of specialists and is working with London’s Metropolitan Police to recover the items.

Those with an inkling that they might be possessing one of these purloined antiquities or any information about them can reach out to the search team at [email protected]. 

[via The Art Newspaper and Artnet News, cover photo 151876608 © Santiago Rodríguez Fontoba | Dreamstime.com]