🌅 The British Museum Is Hiring a Treasure Hunter

SOURCE

The Times

WHAT TO KNOW

• The British Museum is hiring a treasure hunter to help recover hundreds of items missing from its collection, including rare gems, glassworks, and jewelry from as early as the 15th century. The real-life Indiana Jones will use archival research and a large network of contacts in the art world to help track down items whose whereabouts have been unknown since 2023, when a curator at the museum was fired amid accusations of stealing around 1,500 artifacts over more than a decade.

WHY IT MATTERS

• Of the 1,500 items listed as missing, around 650 have been recovered to date, leaving another 850 left to be found. The new hire will assist a team of five colleagues currently tasked with recovering the items. The museum says the current team needs the boost as they’re already stretched thin with other museum duties, slowing progress when time is of the essence (the museum fears any stolen gold could be melted down).

CONNECT THE DOTS

• In 2023, curator Peter Higgs was accused of stealing and selling an estimated 2,000 artifacts from the British Museum’s Greek and Roman departments (the museum ultimately listed 1,500 items as missing). Some of the stolen items have been found on resale websites, including eBay, where a piece of Roman jewelry valued at $60,000 was selling for just $48, and in the U.S., where 268 missing gems were discovered.