HIDDEN TREASURE

British Museum Has Lost a Staggering Amount of Artifacts

The prestigious institution fired an employee last week after artifacts were reported “missing, stolen, or damaged.”

Hundreds of valuable items have gone missing from the British Museum over the last decade, according to a report, with a police investigation currently underway into artifacts that were listed as “missing, stolen, or damaged.” On Thursday, The Times claimed that the London institution’s records showed that ancient coins, silver necklaces, and 540 pieces of pottery were among precious items that have been lost since 2013. The shocking scale of the British Museum’s missing exhibits was revealed after the U.K. press reported last week that a staff member had been fired and an investigation launched after museum staff realized that items including gems and gold jewelry had either vanished or been damaged. On Wednesday, the BBC reported correspondence claiming that the museum had been warned by an art dealer back in 2021 that they’d seen some allegedly stolen items online, some of which were sold on eBay, according to the PA news agency.