The British Museum has accused senior curator Peter Higgs of theft, damage, melting down, and the sale of ancient artifacts. Higgs denies these allegations. The museum alleges that Higgs pocketed an estimated £100,000 from these activities. Court documents from a civil case filed by the museum suggest that Higgs had been stealing items for at least a decade, primarily selling unregistered items from the museum’s storerooms.
It is believed that Higgs sold items to approximately 45 buyers on eBay. Higgs, who has been dismissed from his position, is contesting the civil claim made against him. Despite these allegations, no arrests or charges have been made against anyone involved.
Three buyers have disclosed that the seller known as “sultan1966” identified himself as “Paul Higgins” or simply “Paul” on eBay or via email communications. Court documents indicate that the British Museum alleges Dr. Higgs confessed to owning the sultan1966 account. One of the buyers, Tonio Birbiglia from New Orleans, informed the BBC that he purchased two items from sultan1966, a fact confirmed by cross-referencing eBay records provided to the FBI with Mr. Birbiglia’s receipts.
However, the British Museum has not yet examined these items to ascertain if they belong to its collection. Among the items purchased by Mr. Birbiglia was an amethyst gem portraying Cupid, the Roman god of love, riding a dolphin, acquired for £42 in May 2016. The other was an orange scarab-beetle gem, purchased for £170, with Mr. Birbiglia making payment to a PayPal account linked to Dr. Higgs’ personal email address.
International Tracing Of Stolen Artefacts
However, the United States is not the sole destination for items sold by the seller. Danish antiquities dealer Dr. Ittai Gradel, who initially alerted the museum to the thefts, has identified artifacts that were purchased by buyers in various cities, including Hamburg, Cologne, Paris, and Hong Kong.
Among these items, some gems, acquired by Dr. Gradel himself in good faith and subsequently sold to another private collector, found their way to the Deutsches Edelsteinmuseum in Idar-Oberstein, Germany. These gems were loaned to the museum for display in an exhibition.
Notably, one of these artifacts is believed to be a rare 2nd-century head of the Greek hero Hercules, crafted from obsidian, a type of volcanic glass. Valued at thousands of pounds, this gem served as a prominent exhibit and featured prominently in the exhibition’s catalogue.
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