Review into British Museum thefts calls for fundamental reforms

The independent review into thefts at the British Museum reveals serious problems with the institution’s governance. It calls for the director and trustees to introduce fundamental management reforms. This follows confirmation that 2,000 antiquities were stolen or damaged over a period of more than twenty years.George Osborne, the museum’s chairman of the trustees (and a former chancellor of the exchequer), says that the review’s account of the thefts cannot be disclosed because of the “ongoing police investigation”. What has been published are the review’s recommendations, excepting those on security, along with a press statement. The statement records that “a member of staff had been dismissed”. The person accused is believed to be former curator Peter Higgs. A member of Higgs’s family has strongly denied the allegations against him. Osborne told the BBC that the former staff member “has not been talking or cooperating”. The chairman added that “we’ve got to get to the bottom of exactly the motivation of the individual”.Ittai Gradel, the Danish independent gems specialist who privately warned the British Museum about the theft in 2020, is highly critical about the report released on Tuesday. Speaking to The Art Newspaper, he said it includes “nothing about what the museum had specifically done wrong in handling this, nor if there would be any disciplinary consequences for any employees as a consequence”.Gradel added: “I had hoped that the museum would now move forward to a culture of greater openness and transparency than in the bad old days when I tried in vain for so long to get its management to listen to me.” He is “angry” that so little of the review’s report has been released.What the report does reveal is the latest assessment of the extent of the losses. A total of 2,000 items were taken or damaged, mostly gems and jewellery from the department of Greece and Rome, possibly along with small fragments of sculpture and pottery. This material is believed not to have been properly registered and recorded since it entered the collection many years ago.Of the nearly 500 damaged items, which remain in the museum’s collection, 350 have had material removed, such as gold mounts. This gold will probably have been sold for scrap and melted down, destroying these antique settings. A further 140 pieces have been damaged by tool marks trying to remove valuable material.This leaves 1,500 items which were stolen. Of these, 351 were returned to the museum this year and a further 300 have been identified and may eventually be returned. Although not disclosed in the museum’s press statement, virtually all the 351 are believed to have been returned by Gradel.The report concludes that 850 stolen antiquities remain untraced. It is feared that many of these are unlikely to be recovered. Anyone with further information should contact recovery@britishmuseum.orgA report in The Sunday Times claims that the thief may have made around £100,000 in total, which works out at an average of only £50 a piece. Considering that the thefts took place during than 20 years, this represents an average of £5,000 a year. The real motive of the thief remains a mystery.Speaking to the BBC, Osborne admitted to security failings at the museum, with rules that were “not always properly enforced”. He added: “People get a bit lax in the way they follow those rules.”The Independent Collection Security Review, set up by the trustees and led by former museum trustee and lawyer Nigel Boardman, Lucy D’Orsi, chief constable of the British Transport Police and Ian Karet, a deputy high court judge, has uncovered substantive problems in both the security of the collection and the governance of the museum.It calls on the museum to “identify the unregistered or inadequately registered objects within the collection and register them fully”. The policy for reporting unlocated objects needs to be improved, it says. Although delicately expressed, the report calls for the removal of “potential areas of friction” between curators and the separate collections care staff.Osborne has already promised to “complete the documentation and digitisation of the entire collection within the next five years”.The independent review also calls for trustees to be more “proactive”, with their committees strengthened to deal with matters concerning staff, finances and risk compliance. The museum’s director and their immediate staff should “adopt a modern and inclusive approach to management”. This recommendation suggests that the previous director, Hartwig Fischer (who resigned in August) failed in this respect.Osborne says: “We’re determined to emerge from this period a stronger, more open, and more confident museum that is fit for the future”. He promises that by 2029 the British Museum’s collection will be “the most viewed, studied and used in the world”.Mark Jones, who formerly headed the Victoria and Albert Museum, was appointed the British Museum’s interim director in September. The search is now underway for a new director, whose initial task will be to lead the reforms and re-establish the credibility of the UK’s leading museum.