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Former British Museum curator Peter Higgs is alleged to have stolen more than 1,500 artefacts from the London museum’s collection,
Lauren Heath-Jones | Planet Attractions | 22 Aug 2023
Former British Museum curator Peter Higgs is alleged to have stolen more than 1,500 artefacts from the London museum’s collection,The Daily Telegraph has revealed, with the value of the missing items thought to be in the tens of millions.
Higgs was named in the UK media as the suspected thief in August after he was dismissed from his curatorial position at the British Museum after several artefacts, including gold, jewellery and semi-precious stones, went missing from the museum’s archives.
It is alleged that Higgs has been stealing items from the museum’s collection for years, before selling them on eBay, with items appearing on the eCommerce site as early as 2016. The Daily Telegraph reported that the total number of stolen objects is thought to be “closer to 2,000.”
Higg was identified as a suspect after allegedly selling pieces that had been catalogued by the museum and could be traced by their digital inventory. A Paypal account using his real name was also linked to the sales.
Unesco-affiliated antiquities trafficking expert Christos Tsirogiannis told The Economist that the thefts at the museum are “probably the worst case so far... No one expects that to happen in a museum.”
British Museum staff have alleged that outbound director Hartwig Fischer’s decision to step down in 2024 was prompted by the thefts. Fischer is now facing rising pressure to step down immediately.
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