The British Museum's curator of Greek collections, Greek sculpture and the Hellenistic period, Paul Higgs, was named in The Times and The Telegraph as the prime suspect behind the disappearance of over 1,500 artefacts from the Museum's collection. Higgs allegedly sold some of the stolen works on Ebay for a fraction of their value under a pseudonym. Despite tip offs from dealers, the Museum's leadership team failed to take action. Why does this matter? Apart from the loss of the nation's cultural heritage, this substantially weakens the Museum's defence against restitution claims over contested works, most famously the Parthenon Marbles.
Prior to this story emerging, the British Museum had been at the centre of a series of restitution debates over contested artefacts, most notably the Parthenon Marbles, the Benin Bronzes and the Ethiopian Tabots. Time and again, its leadership has defended its collection against such restitution claims by arguing that the museum is capable of conserving and protecting artefacts uniquely well.
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