The British Museum is hiring a dedicated treasure hunter to recover hundreds of stolen antiquities, including gold jewelry and semi-precious stones allegedly taken by former curator Peter Higgs. Since the theft of some 1,500 objects was revealed in 2023, over a third have been recovered, but the museum is racing to find the remaining pieces before they are destroyed or melted down. The new role will focus on liaising with an international network of dealers, auction houses, and collectors, while also using open-source investigation and AI tools to track down items scattered globally.
This hiring move underscores the British Museum's ongoing crisis over security and provenance, one of the most significant institutional scandals in recent art history. The case highlights vulnerabilities in museum collections management and raises broader questions about the safeguarding of cultural heritage. The recovery effort also demonstrates how museums are increasingly turning to specialized investigators and digital forensics to combat art crime, setting a precedent for how institutions handle internal theft and restitution.