British Museum ‘knew three years ago that treasures were being sold on eBay’
An expert in antiquities was said to have spotted that a Roman onyx jewel on the online auction site was a piece pictured in the museum’s online catalogue.
He reportedly tipped off the museum in June 2020 and a senior member of staff said the matter would be investigated. However, the expert said he had heard nothing back and in October that year he wrote to a colleague in Britain to express his frustration.
He suggested at the time that the museum “may not be interested in knowing” because the thefts would be “hugely embarrassing” for them.
I expect the eBay disposal route was hugely embarrassing too. Shady collectors with the wealth and connections to pursue their fanatical dreams of the perfect collection - they would have gone some way to obscure the laxity of it all.
Meanwhile the government should consider keeping a closer eye on Hadrian's Wall.
6 comments:
How the incompetence will be explained: consider the case of the wrongfully convicted non-rapist and the Criminal Cases Review Commission - "several senior figures in the legal and judicial system have said one of the chief issues the CCRC is facing is underfunding".
It's always bloody "underfunding". The failure to deal in a timely way with the murderous nurse will be blamed on "underfunding" too.
And there's always this one: "The Countess of Chester hospital trust said it was committed to ensuring lessons were learned."
And naturally the managers concerned will fail upwards into even better-paid public sector sinecures.
dearieme - yes it is always "underfunding" and in the other case lessons won't be learned. Huge reports will be produced though.
Peter - probably, or they will retire early on health grounds.
I would have thought that selling easily identifiable stolen items on eBay was a really dumb idea as since it's all recorded on eBay's computer even the Met should be able to trace the seller, if not also the buyers.
Vatsmith - yes, so dumb that it's strange. Not far removed from giving it away or giving it to charity shops. There seems to be an unanswered question of motive.
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