British Museum

17 Stories

Art Student Pulls Off an Unusual Museum Theft

Ile Sartuzi steals coin at British Museum, redeposits in donation box as part of thesis

(Newser) - It's one of the more unusual museum heists you'll read about—the thief kept his bounty for only a few minutes before returning it, publicly documenting the entire thing. As the Art Newspaper reports, the strangeness unfolded at the British Museum on June 18. That's the day...

Museum Sues Curator Accused of Selling Artifacts Online

Peter Higgs allegedly stole 1.8K items from British Museum before he was fired last year

(Newser) - The British Museum went to court Tuesday against a former curator alleged to have stolen hundreds of artifacts from its collections and offered them for sale online. The museum is suing Peter Higgs, who was fired in July 2023 after more than 1,800 items were discovered to be missing....

Loot From British Museum Started Showing Up on eBay

Officials say they've recovered some of the possibly 2K items stolen

(Newser) - The head of trustees at the British Museum said Saturday that the museum has recovered some of the 2,000 items believed to have been stolen by an insider, but he admitted that the 264-year-old institution does not have records of everything in its vast collection. Chairman of Trustees George...

Stolen Jewelry Worth Up to $65K Popped Up on eBay for $50

Onyx piece taken from British Museum was listed on auction site in 2016; ex-curator is main suspect

(Newser) - Jewelry stolen over time from the British Museum—allegedly by a former staffer who'd worked there for decades—have been popping on eBay, with the person hawking the pieces trying to dump them for a tiny fraction of their value, reports the Telegraph . The precious items missing from the...

British Museum Reveals 'Highly Unusual Incident'

Says worker stole gold and jewels and has been fired

(Newser) - The British Museum in London has suffered a "highly unusual incident," per the museum's director: the alleged theft of items by a staff member. The BBC reports the unnamed employee has been fired and the museum plans to take legal action. For now, police are investigating, with...

'A Spoil of War': Egyptologists Demand Return of Rosetta Stone

British Museum, which refused its return in the past, says there's no official request now

(Newser) - Egyptian archaeologists and thousands of supporters are demanding the return of one of the British Museum's most prized artifacts, along with other Egyptian treasures, saying their continued presence in the heart of the British Empire "supports past colonial endeavors of cultural violence." An online petition launched last...

Sacklers' Name Pulled From British Museum
British Museum to Pull 'Sackler'
Mar 26, 2022 12:05 PM CDT

British Museum to Pull 'Sackler'

Officials say they reached agreement with the Purdue Pharma family's foundation

(Newser) - The British Museum will remove the Sackler name from galleries, rooms, and endowments following global outrage over the role the family played in the opioid crisis. The museum is the latest cultural institution to cut ties with the Sacklers. The Sackler name has been removed in recent years from wings...

Family Finds Hoard of Tudor Coins in Backyard

They got a big surprise while weeding their garden

(Newser) - With COVID restrictions in place, a lot of people have been spending more time in their own backyards—and in Britain, that has led to some fascinating historical finds. A family weeding their garden in the New Forest area of Hampshire discovered a hoard of Tudor coins that were worth...

Easter Island Natives Want British Museum's 'Stolen' Statue

Rapa Nui say the Hoa Hakananai'a moai piece was stolen 150 years ago

(Newser) - It's been called one of the British Museum's must-see marvels. But Hoa Hakananai'a won't remain there, if Easter Island's indigenous people get their way. The 7-foot-tall moai statue housed in London since it was taken 150 years ago from what's now a Chilean territory...

It Looks Like a Smudge. But Its Significance Is Huge

Mummy tattoos among the oldest ever found, say scientists

(Newser) - The ancient Egyptian mummy has been a favorite attraction at the British Museum since it was discovered a century ago in Gebelein, but only keen-eyed passers-by would've wondered at the dark smudges on the male's upper arm. Turns out, they were worth noticing. Infrared scans have revealed them...

Waiter Learns the Hard Way to Be Careful Around Ancient Art

Venus statue at London's British Museum had thumb knocked right off by catering server

(Newser) - A waiter who was all thumbs cost a priceless Roman sculpture one of its own. The BBC reports on the incident at London's British Museum, which the Art Newspaper says took place in December, in which the unfortunate unnamed server from an outside catering vendor was setting up for...

Egypt Demands Rosetta Stone Back

But the British Museum's intent on keeping it

(Newser) - Egypt’s top antiquities official will head to Britain tomorrow in his quest to goad the British Museum into returning the Rosetta Stone. Dr. Zahi Hawass calls the stone an “icon of Egyptian identity,” and says the museum doesn’t really value it. “They kept it in...

British Treasure Find Worth $5.4M

Anglo-Saxon gold unearthed by jobless searcher this summer

(Newser) - An amateur British treasure hunter and the owner of the field where he struck gold are in for a big payday: His find turns out to be a 7th-century Anglo-Saxon cache of the precious metal. The collection is worth about $5.4 million, British Museum tells the AP . The treasure—...

China To Scour Museums for Looted Art

Artifact team will hunt for Imperial Gardens booty

(Newser) - China is about to send teams of artifact hunters to the world's top museums to track down looted art treasures. They'll be on the lookout for art from the splendid Imperial Gardens of Yuan Ming Yuan, more commonly known as the Old Summer Palace, which was used by Chinese emperors...

Massive Ancient Gold Trove Likely Battle Booty

Experts compare record find to discovery of King Tut's tomb

(Newser) - Experts dazzled by a record trove of ancient gold and silver unearthed in an English field believe the hoard of coins, hilts and parts of shields was war booty stripped from fallen soldiers and buried on the run. It was finally unearthed by a man with a metal detector 14...

Brit Museum Refuses to Lose Its Marbles

Museum refuses to sanction Elgin's deeds

(Newser) - Tension between Greek and British museum officials over ownership of the famous Elgin marbles bubbled over this week, reports the Guardian. With the New Acropolis Museum set to open in Athens, Greece is refusing to accede to British terms concerning the loan of the classical treasure. The British Museum offered...

Warriors Invade British Museum
Warriors Invade British Museum
Sep 6, 2007 12:48 PM CDT

Warriors Invade British Museum

Terracotta warriors travel to London for landmark exhibition

(Newser) - British papers have been absorbed with stories of Chinese hackers, but another set of Chinese warriors has invaded London: the millennia-old terracotta statues that guard the tomb of Qin Shihuangdi. The Telegraph is presenting a preview of the British Museum's The First Emperor, an exhibition years in the making that...

17 Stories
Most Read on Newser