This week, the British Museum in London launched authorized proceedings in opposition to one in every of its former curators, Peter Higgs, who’s accused of stealing as much as 2,000 objects from its assortment. The archaeologist who first noticed stolen objects, nevertheless, has described the authorized motion as “locking the secure door after the horse has bolted”.
Higgs was the museum’s curator of Historic Greek collections and the performing head of the Greece and Rome division. Final 12 months he was sacked following revelations that a lot of objects had been broken or gone lacking and this week the museum sued Higgs for the return of any remaining artefacts in his possession.
In 2020 Martin Henig, an professional in engraved gems, recognized a part of a Roman signet ring, which was obtainable on the market, as belonging to the British Museum. After the merchandise was returned, Henig, with the scholar and artwork seller Ittai Gradel, discovered proof of different objects on the market which had seemingly been stolen from the gathering. Regardless of their makes an attempt to focus on this to the museum, their warnings to administrators have been dismissed.
Henig stated: “The authorized motion may be very a lot a case of locking the secure door after the horse has bolted, although perhaps it can carry to gentle a couple of extra of the stolen objects. The affair leaves me feeling very unhappy and depressed. A part of the issue must be underfunding. However inevitably the establishment bears among the culpability for its negligence. The gems must be given the identical consideration, care and cataloguing ability accorded to the traditional cash within the museum that are accorded way more consideration.”
Numerous the stolen objects ended up on the market on the net public sale web site eBay, typically at costs far under their true worth. In 2002, Higgs advised the Instances newspaper that among the museum’s intensive Greek and Roman assortment had not been catalogued for greater than a century, describing its strongrooms as “chaos down right here”. An undercover reporter for the Instances posing as a piece expertise trainee beneath the supervision of Higgs walked out of the museum with the foot of a statue from the third century BC, valued at £20,000.
Jason Felch, an creator and investigative reporter who has spent a decade researching the illicit antiquities commerce, stated the Instances investigation ought to have been a wake-up name to the museum. He means that the influence an absence of funding for the museum sector has on salaries can be a trigger for concern: “One clear signal of the deeper issues on the museum is prominently displayed on its web site: a job itemizing for Higgs’s position, curator of the Greek and Roman assortment. It pays simply £33,803 per 12 months. Satirically, it was the British Museum’s present chairman George Osborne who, as chancellor of the exchequer, championed austerity measures that slashed cultural spending within the UK.”
In courtroom filings, the museum’s lawyer Daniel Burgess stated Higgs used faux names, created false paperwork and manipulated the museum’s information to cowl his tracks. A police investigation into the case is ongoing and no expenses have been made. Higgs denies the allegations.
Aisling Prior, curator on the workplace for artwork in Dublin stated: “All through historical past, it’s been assumed that artists and curators are particularly moral, probably due to the vocational, and typically selfless characterisation of the professions. Subsequently it’s stunning when so many treasured objects go lacking from such a well-known establishment and when such an esteemed curator as Peter Higgs is accused of the theft. This authorized motion by the British Museum is a outstanding admission that none of his superiors have been conscious of his alleged prison exercise for the ten years previous his dismissal. The British Museum must be ashamed of its personal report of custodianship.”
The British Museum stated it had no additional remark when contacted by The Artwork Newspaper. Higgs has been approached for an announcement.
