A scandal erupts as priceless artifacts allegedly stolen from the British Museum floor on eBay. Peter John Higgs is accused however stays uncharged.
eBay Listings Elevate Eyebrows: The British Museum Scandal Unfolds
You’d assume eBay could be the final place you’d discover stolen artifacts from the British Museum, proper? Effectively, assume once more. A chunk of Roman jewellery with an estimated worth of £25,000 to £50,000 had surfaced on the platform with a surprisingly low beginning bid of simply £40. Now, how might that occur, you surprise?
Based on a report by The Telegraph, the dear objects allegedly taken from the British Museum had been listed on the market on eBay way back to 2016. The individual suspected of orchestrating this audacious act? None aside from Peter John Higgs, a celebrated curator who has served the museum for 3 many years. Discuss a curveball!
Piecing Collectively the eBay Puzzle
Curiously sufficient, the Roman jewellery piece listed on eBay garnered zero bids. The vendor, working beneath the username “Sultan1966,” appeared to have vanished into the digital ether, as additional searches produced no further listings beneath that title.
Notably, artwork historian Bendor Grosvenor had unearthed the merchandise’s museum classification particulars, which confirmed its manufacturing courting between the first and 2nd centuries. And in case you’re looking the museum’s on-line database, don’t trouble. The entry for the merchandise merely states, “not on show,” making the thriller even murkier.
A scandal erupts as priceless artifacts allegedly stolen from the British Museum floor on eBay. Peter John Higgs is accused however stays uncharged.
The Artifacts Past the Public sale: What Else Is Going On?
Jason Feltch, the person behind the Chasing Aphrodite weblog, didn’t mince phrases. He posted, “Most of it [ancient material on eBay] is assumed to be pretend. However apparently there are additionally some issues straight from the bowels of the British Museum on there.” His put up additionally linked to a web page stuffed with unverified photographs, pointing on the huge, grey market that eBay can typically be.
Who’s Saying What: The Official Stances
An eBay spokesperson said that the corporate maintains a “devoted legislation enforcement liaison group” and is cooperating absolutely with the Metropolitan Police. “If we establish {that a} itemizing on our web site is stolen, we instantly take away it,” they added, assuring that eBay takes the sale of stolen property severely.
Equally, the British Museum declined to supply additional feedback because of the ongoing police investigation. This has raised questions, particularly from the Chasing Aphrodite weblog, about why no footage of the lacking objects have been launched, or why Higgs hasn’t been arrested.
Museums: A Belief Betrayed?
Martyn Whittock, historian and creator, put it succinctly when he mentioned, “Museums are repositories of yesterday for at the moment and tomorrow… it’s not for anyone to place [items] on eBay.”
Higgs was as soon as the top of the division for Greece and Rome on the British Museum and was the lead curator for the exhibition “Historical Greeks: athletes, warriors, and heroes,” in 2021. However now, it appears, his household is in a race in opposition to time to clear his title. His son Greg informed The Instances, “He’s not finished something. He’s misplaced his job and his popularity, and I don’t assume it was truthful. It couldn’t have been him.”
So, the place does this go away us? No arrests have been made but, however the British Museum is ready for authorized motion ought to an arrest happen. Within the meantime, the artwork world stays on tenterhooks, as one in every of its most trusted establishments faces an unsettling scandal that’s left extra questions than solutions.
