The number of items allegedly taken from the British Museum’s collection by the senior curator Peter Higgs is thought to total more than 1,500 separate artefacts, according to an internal investigation conducted by the museum and reportedly seen by The Daily Telegraph. The total number of artefacts allegedly taken by Higgs is thought to be “closer to 2,000”, a source told The Daily Telegraph. The sheer number of artefacts taken from the museum’s collection will heap further pressure on a beleaguered senior leadership team, including Hartwig Fischer, the museum’s outgoing director. Higgs was quoted in a Sunday Times investigation into the British Museum in 2002, during which a reporter for the paper gained an apprenticeship at the museum in order to expose the lax security under which the collection is held. 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.

Source: Ethiopian News August 23, 2023 09:10 UTC