Gold jewellery, semi-precious stones and crystal treasures have disappeared from the vast collection of the British Museum in a serious security breach revealed this week. An employee of the institution has been fired in relation to the theft of the pieces, which are considered “lost, stolen or destroyed.” Two parallel investigations – one internal and the other by the London Metropolitan Police try to clarify the facts and recover the stolen works.
The London museum is withholding details of an apparent crime that damages its reputation as custodian of works of art, cultural events, relics and curiosities from around the world. It has not revealed the number of pieces stolen, neither their origin nor the time range in which the crime could be committed. He has only reported that it is “mostly” small pieces that were kept in the warehouse of one of his multiple collections. The missing cache includes items of jewelry, glass and gems from the 15th century BC to the 19th century AD, which had not been on public display recently. “They were kept primarily for academic and research purposes,” the official statement said.
Among the immediate actions are legal actions against the fired person, whose identity has not yet come to light. “We used all disciplinary resources at our disposal to deal with the individual we believe responsible… when we learned earlier this year that items from the collection had been stolen,” said British Museum Chairman, former Conservative Minister George Osborne. .
The board formally denounced the incident, imposed “emergency measures” to strengthen the security of the estate and launched an independent inquiry, which will be co-led by a former trustee, Sir Nigel Boardman, and the head of the British Regional Transport Police, Lucy DOrsy. . Recovering the stolen pieces also stands out among the priorities of the investigations of the economic crime division of Scotland Yard.
Hartwig Sischer, director of the museum, apologized for the “unusual incident” suffered by an institution that takes the task of “safeguarding all objects with the utmost seriousness.” The German professional, who leaves his prestigious London role in 2024, revealed that management and the rest of the squad are cooperating with “external experts to complete a definitive review of what is missing, damaged or stolen.” Some speak of some 3,000 looted treasures and many fear that the gold jewelery and other precious objects have been melted down or are already on the chain of the obscure antiques market.
Unusual but not unprecedented. A diamond ring, by Cartier, was “lost” in 2011 but the museum reported the incident six years later. Of equal or greater importance was the theft of fifteen Chinese relics, dating from the year 700 to the 14th century, among which there were hairpins, earrings and other delicate jewelry. It happened in 2004 and with the sumptuous Bloomsbury building open to the public. Two years earlier, a visitor appropriated a marble head, about 12 centimeters, when the guard left the room where it was exhibited.