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Why no one may ever be charged over the British Museum thefts
Why no one may ever be charged over the British Museum thefts

Telegraph

time7 days ago

  • Telegraph

Why no one may ever be charged over the British Museum thefts

The lawyers were dressed in black robes and horsehair wigs. The judge, the Honourable Michael Beloff KC, had taken his seat on the bench, and the prosecution was about to outline its case against the defendant. Even the sliding brass lids of the inkwells on the oak benches had been polished to a high gleam. Beneath the vaulted ceiling of the courtroom the case against Joseph Duveen was outlined. It was alleged that as a respected senior curator at the prestigious Cornish Museum he had access to the storerooms where thousands of ancient artefacts were kept. Many of them had yet to be catalogued and few were in any danger of going on public display because there were so many other examples to choose from. It was alleged by the prosecuting barrister Claude Dancer that, over the course of the previous few years, Duveen had sold dozens of historic artefacts on eBay for a fraction of their true worth. It was only when an eagle-eyed expert recognised them as objects that had previously been donated to the Cornish Museum, and was able to raise the alarm, that the thefts were even noticed. Duveen was also charged with criminal damage to the items when they were prised out of gold mounts or had identifying marks erased to make it difficult to positively establish where they had come from. If this sounds familiar, it is. Peter Higgs, the former curator of Greek and Roman antiquities at the British Museum, was questioned nearly two years ago in connection with the apparent disappearance of an estimated 1,500 objects from a locked departmental storeroom. Like the Cornish Museum, the British Museum had to admit, in the wake of the scandal, that a significant portion of its collection was not fully catalogued, and, therefore, it could be difficult to prove that many of the missing items – including gold jewellery, semi-precious stones and ancient glassware – belonged to the museum. Despite months of investigation and even a BBC series on the case, Higgs has not been charged with any offence, although the museum has sacked him and is bringing a civil case against him. The scandal led to the resignation of the museum's then director Hartwig Fischer. Higgs has denied any criminal act and it is not clear what stage the investigation has reached. Roger Michel, a former lawyer and the founder of the Banbury-based Institute for Digital Archaeology, spent months orchestrating a mock trial partly out of frustration that many museums have failed to take advantage of advances in technology that would enable them to keep a better grasp on their collections. The cast of his mock trial included academics, collectors, campaigners, real lawyers and a distinguished KC. Participants were given pseudonyms from Hollywood courtroom dramas as well as historic figures from the museum world, and he began with a disclaimer that 'any resemblance to any person alive or dead is purely coincidental'. The hearing took place in Oxford 's historic crown court, which saw more than a century and a half of murderers, thieves and swindlers led down the steep tiled steps from the dock before it was turned into an event space often used as a set for TV dramas. Michel, a former US lawyer and assistant district attorney in Massachusetts who now lives in Oxford, played the part of the prosecutor. Michael Beloff, a former president of Michel's alma mater Trinity College and a King's Counsel, had graciously agreed to take part to ensure proceedings kept as close as possible to real life. Condensing a trial that would probably take three weeks into an afternoon meant all corners were cut, but the only real jarring was caused by the presence of three cameramen trying to capture every cough and spit for a possible future BBC documentary. Cameras, of course, are rarely allowed in real courts. Michel opened proceedings with a list of 10 items supposedly sold by Duveen – played by tech entrepreneur Robert Brooker – on eBay. Duveen's defence counsel Elle Woods, played by Liz Sawyer, a former antiquities dealer who is shortly to start a new life as a real-life barrister, pointed out that one item in the list was actually ancient Egyptian and would not have come under his department. First point scored. She also pointed out that although the fictional charge was 'handling stolen goods', none of the items had been reported missing let alone stolen, and Duveen, a respected curator with an unblemished 28-year record at the Cornish Museum, had not been charged with theft. Michel's extravagantly coiffed eyebrows crept closer to his wig, which happened to be exactly the same colour, and looked ready to merge into a single hairpiece. His pseudonymous character Claude Dancer was the hotshot prosecutor played by George C Scott in the 1959 classic Anatomy of a Murder. Elle Woods is, of course, the lawyer played by Reese Witherspoon in the Legally Blonde films. To the judge's irritation, Michel kept resorting to an American style of legal interjection, which included saying 'objection' and 'asked and answered' at every opportunity. With her own laser-like focus, Miss Sawyer beamed in on one element in the prosecution's case. She said: 'Is this man likely to throw away his career, his life and his reputation for a handful of trinkets? You have heard the two charges made against my client: handling stolen goods and criminal damage. He has not been charged with theft. A fundamental part of that charge is that the goods were stolen. But Duveen has not been charged with theft. 'This is essentially a charge with a gaping hole: stolen goods and no thief. There is no charge of theft because the prosecution have no evidence of theft. There is no thief because there was no theft; there was no theft and there are no stolen goods. That is because Duveen never stole anything. 'This was legitimate online activity in which he was selling his own, legitimately owned artefacts. It has been misconstrued as criminal by people who have simply leapt to the wrong conclusions.' The killer witness for the defence was antiquities collector and dealer Hamilton White, a real person, who showed off an enamel cross and an 18th-century child's toy cannon, both of which looked like rare and valuable items. He then produced from his voluminous pockets dozens of identical items to prove that things we may think of as 'unique', 'rare' or 'priceless' are very rarely that. Museums may have dozens or even hundreds of almost identical items in their stores but only the very best will ever be put on display. 'Deaccessioning' – officially removing an item from a museum in order to sell it – is a fact of life in many museums but one that is not much talked about. It it not known, however, if Peter Higgs was ever given permission by the British Museum to deaccession any items in the collection. The mock court heard detailed evidence from the academic researcher who first realised items from the Cornish Museum were being sold on eBay. The court also heard evidence from Lois Lane, the journalist who linked the seller's identity to Duveen, and detective Frederick Abberline, who led the investigation. Like most of the 20-plus people invited to participate, I am someone Michel has worked with in the past. I was asked to play the role of foreman of the jury of six, and before we were sent out to deliberate, we were told by the judge we had to return a unanimous verdict. Despite having covered dozens of court cases during the course of my journalistic career, I had never been in a jury room, and had only a vague idea what I was supposed to do. I began by asking my fellow jurors if any of them was convinced one way or the other. Juror Meghana Kalagana, a student at the London School of Economics, surprised me by declaring that the defendant was 'not guilty' on either charge. Going round the table everyone agreed, and we had a unanimous verdict before we'd even begun any discussion. The reason was not that we believed Duveen to be innocent or that he'd put up a particularly convincing case in the witness box, but that the case against him had not been proven 'beyond reasonable doubt'. Was that the result of sloppiness in the presentation of the fictional charges or the difficulty of proving something when there was no 'killer' evidence such as the discovery of a box of stolen artefacts in his home? It made us realise, as fake jurors, that 'beyond reasonable doubt' is a high standard to meet when you are dealing with the theft of and damage to objects that are thousands of years old. Michel, casting off his fictitious character, said this had been his intention all along. He wants to draw attention to the failure of the museum world to take advantage of the latest technology to record and catalogue items in their collections. He said: 'There's a whole host of technology that can do a lot of the tedious stuff for them, such as recording objects and keeping track of them, so museums know exactly what they've got. The thefts from the British Museum highlighted that even our most august institutions are way behind the times.'

Looted, stolen, and still on display: From the UK to France, museums still hold the world's plundered heritage
Looted, stolen, and still on display: From the UK to France, museums still hold the world's plundered heritage

Malay Mail

time08-07-2025

  • Politics
  • Malay Mail

Looted, stolen, and still on display: From the UK to France, museums still hold the world's plundered heritage

PARIS, July 8 — After the French parliament voted on Monday to return to Ivory Coast a 'talking drum' that colonial troops took from the Ebrie tribe in 1916, here is a recap of other disputes over artefacts looted from Europe's former colonies. France: Tens of thousands of pieces The Djidji Ayokwe, the beloved 'talking drum' is one of tens of thousands of artworks and other prized artefacts that France looted from its colonial empire from the 16th century to the first half of the 20th century. Three metres long and weighing 430 kilogrammes, it was seized by French troops in 1916 and sent to France in 1929. President Emmanuel Macron in 2021 promised to return the drum, used as a communication tool to transmit messages between different areas, and other artefacts to the west African country. Ivory Coast, Senegal and Benin have all asked for the repatriation of their treasures. In late 2020, the French parliament adopted a law providing for the permanent return to Benin of 26 artefacts from the royal treasures of Dahomey. Britain: Refuses to budge The Parthenon Marbles, the object of a long-running dispute between the United Kingdom and Greece, are the most high profile of contested treasures. Athens has for decades demanded the return of the sculptures from the British Museum, saying they were looted in 1802 by Lord Elgin, the then-British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. The current government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has escalated its efforts to secure the repatriation of the Marbles, holding official and unofficial meetings with the government of Keith Starmer last autumn. The British Museum has also refused to return any of the sacred sculptures and carvings known as the 'Benin Bronzes' taken during a British military expedition in the former kingdom of Benin in southern Nigeria in 1897. It has the biggest collection of the Benin Bronzes which are held in museums across the United States and Europe. The British Museum is also standing firm on the 11 Ethiopian tabots, or sacred tablets, that it holds. Germany: Agrees to return Bronzes The German government agreed in 2022 to hand 1,100 Benin Bronzes back to Nigeria. The first 22 were sent back in December 2022. Netherlands too The Netherlands in June 2025 officially handed back to Nigeria 119 Benin Bronzes sculptures with a ceremony held at the National Museum in Lagos, showcasing four of them in the museum's courtyard. Netherlands officially handed back to Nigeria 119 precious ancient sculptures, stolen from the former kingdom of Benin more than 120 years ago during the colonial era. It is the latest return of artefacts to Africa, as pressure mounts on Western governments and institutions to hand back the spoils of colonial oppression. — AFP pic Egyptian antiquities Many artworks and artefacts have over the centuries been looted from Egypt, the cradle of an ancient civilisation that has long fascinated Europeans. Among the most high profile cases are the Nefertiti bust, the Rosetta Stone and the Dendera Zodiac, which are on show in top museums in Germany, the United Kingdom and France. The bust of Nefertiti, the wife of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, was sculpted around 1340 BC but was taken to Germany by a Prussian archaeologist and was later given to the Neues Museum in Berlin. The Rosetta Stone, a basalt slab dating from 196 BC, has been housed in the British Museum since 1802, inscribed with the legend 'Captured in Egypt by the British Army in 1801'. It bore extracts of a decree written in Ancient Greek, an ancient Egyptian vernacular script called Demotic and hieroglyphics. The Dendera Zodiac, a celestial map, was blasted out of the Hathor Temple in Qena in southern Egypt in 1820 by a French official. Thought to date from around 50 BC, it has been suspended on a ceiling in the Louvre museum in Paris since 1922. — AFP

How incredible King Tutankhamen collection is being restored for new Egyptian museum
How incredible King Tutankhamen collection is being restored for new Egyptian museum

South China Morning Post

time08-07-2025

  • Science
  • South China Morning Post

How incredible King Tutankhamen collection is being restored for new Egyptian museum

As a teenager, Eid Mertah would pore over books about King Tutankhamen, tracing hieroglyphs and dreaming of holding the boy pharaoh's golden mask in his hands. Years later, the Egyptian conservator found himself gently brushing centuries-old dust off one of Tut's gilded ceremonial shrines – a piece he had only seen in textbooks. 'I studied archaeology because of Tut,' Mertah, 36, said. 'It was my dream to work on his treasures – and that dream came true.' Mertah is one of more than 150 conservators and 100 archaeologists who have laboured quietly for over a decade to restore thousands of artefacts ahead of the long-awaited opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) – a US$1 billion project on the edge of the Giza Plateau. Originally slated for July 3, the launch has once again been postponed – now expected in the final months of the year – due to regional security concerns. Visitors walk next to a 3,200-year-old colossal pink-granite statue of King Ramses II at the entrance of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, Egypt, on February 7, 2025, ahead of the museum's planned opening later in the year. Photo: AFP The museum's opening has faced delays over the years for various reasons, ranging from political upheaval to the Covid-19 pandemic.

‘Puzzle of gold': Egyptian team restores Tutankhamun's relics ahead of Grand Museum launch
‘Puzzle of gold': Egyptian team restores Tutankhamun's relics ahead of Grand Museum launch

Malay Mail

time07-07-2025

  • Science
  • Malay Mail

‘Puzzle of gold': Egyptian team restores Tutankhamun's relics ahead of Grand Museum launch

CAIRO, July 8 — As a teenager, Eid Mertah would pore over books about King Tutankhamun, tracing hieroglyphs and dreaming of holding the boy pharaoh's golden mask in his hands. Years later, the Egyptian conservator found himself gently brushing centuries-old dust off one of Tut's gilded ceremonial shrines — a piece he had only seen in textbooks. 'I studied archaeology because of Tut,' Mertah, 36, told AFP. 'It was my dream to work on his treasures — and that dream came true.' Mertah is one of more than 150 conservators and 100 archaeologists who have laboured quietly for over a decade to restore thousands of artefacts ahead of the long-awaited opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) — a US$1 billion project on the edge of the Giza Plateau. Originally slated for July 3, the launch has once again been postponed — now expected in the final months of the year — due to regional security concerns. The museum's opening has faced delays over the years for various reasons, ranging from political upheaval to the Covid-19 pandemic. But when it finally opens, the GEM will be the world's largest archaeological museum devoted to a single civilisation. It will house more than 100,000 artefacts, with over half on public display, and will include a unique feature: a live conservation lab. From behind glass walls, visitors will be able to watch in real time as experts work over the next three years to restore a 4,500-year-old boat buried near the tomb of Pharaoh Khufu and intended to ferry his soul across the sky with the sun god Ra. But the star of the museum remains King Tut's collection of more than 5,000 objects — many to be displayed together for the first time. Among them are his golden funeral mask, gilded coffins, golden amulets, beaded collars, ceremonial chariots and two mummified foetuses believed to be his stillborn daughters. 'Puzzle of gold' Many of these treasures have not undergone restoration since British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered them in 1922. The conservation methods used by Carter's team were intended to protect the objects, but over a century later, they have posed challenges for their modern-day successors. Coating gold surfaces in wax, for instance, 'preserved the objects at the time', said conservator Hind Bayoumi, 'but it then hid the very details we want the world to see'. For months, Bayoumi, 39, and her colleagues painstakingly removed the wax applied by British chemist Alfred Lucas, which had over decades trapped dirt and dulled the shine of the gold. Restoration has been a joint effort between Egypt and Japan, which contributed $800 million in loans and provided technical support. Egyptian conservators — many trained by Japanese experts — have led cutting-edge work across 19 laboratories covering wood, metal, papyrus, textiles and more. Tut's gilded coffin — brought from his tomb in Luxor — proved one of the most intricate jobs. At the GEM's wood lab, conservator Fatma Magdy, 34, used magnifying lenses and archival photos to reassemble its delicate gold sheets. 'It was like solving a giant puzzle,' she said. 'The shape of the break, the flow of the hieroglyphs — every detail mattered.' Visitors walk next the 3,200-year-old pink-granite colossal statue of King Ramses II at the entrance of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), in Giza on the southwestern outskirts of the capital Cairo on February 7, 2025, set to open fully on July 3, following a partial opening in October. — AFP pic Touching history Before restoration, the Tutankhamun collection was retrieved from several museums and storage sites, including the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, the Luxor Museum and the tomb itself. Some items were given light restoration before their relocation to ensure they could be safely moved. Teams first conducted photographic documentation, X-ray analysis and material testing to understand each item's condition before touching it. 'We had to understand the condition of each piece — the gold layers, the adhesives, wood structure — everything,' said Mertah, who worked on King Tut's ceremonial shrines at the Egyptian Museum. Fragile pieces were stabilised with Japanese tissue paper — thin but strong — and adhesives like Paraloid B-72 and Klucel G, both reversible and minimally invasive. The team's guiding philosophy throughout has been one of restraint. 'The goal is always to do the least amount necessary — and to respect the object's history,' said Mohamed Moustafa, 36, another senior restorer. Beyond the restoration work, the process has been an emotional journey for many of those involved. 'I think we're more excited to see the museum than tourists are,' Moustafa said. 'When visitors walk through the museum, they'll see the beauty of these artefacts. But for us, every piece is a reminder of the endless working hours, the debates, the trainings.' 'Every piece tells a story.' — AFP

Looted art: the battle for looted treasures
Looted art: the battle for looted treasures

France 24

time07-07-2025

  • Politics
  • France 24

Looted art: the battle for looted treasures

France: tens of thousands of pieces The Djidji Ayokwe, the beloved "talking drum" is one of tens of thousands of artworks and other prized artefacts that France looted from its colonial empire from the 16th century to the first half of the 20th century. Three metres long and weighing 430 kilogrammes, it was seized by French troops in 1916 and sent to France in 1929. President Emmanuel Macron in 2021 promised to return the drum, used as a communication tool to transmit messages between different areas, and other artefacts to the west African country. Ivory Coast, Senegal and Benin have all asked for the repatriation of their treasures. In late 2020, the French parliament adopted a law providing for the permanent return to Benin of 26 artefacts from the royal treasures of Dahomey. Britain: refuses to budge The Parthenon Marbles, the object of a long-running dispute between the United Kingdom and Greece, are the most high profile of contested treasures. Athens has for decades demanded the return of the sculptures from the British Museum, saying they were looted in 1802 by Lord Elgin, the then-British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. The current government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has escalated its efforts to secure the repatriation of the Marbles, holding official and unofficial meetings with the government of Keith Starmer last autumn. The British Museum has also refused to return any of the sacred sculptures and carvings known as the "Benin Bronzes" taken during a British military expedition in the former kingdom of Benin in southern Nigeria in 1897. It has the biggest collection of the Benin Bronzes which are held in museums across the United States and Europe. The British Museum is also standing firm on the 11 Ethiopian tabots, or sacred tablets, that it holds. Germany: agrees to return Bronzes The German government agreed in 2022 to hand 1,100 Benin Bronzes back to Nigeria. The first 22 were sent back in December 2022. Netherlands too The Netherlands in June 2025 officially handed back to Nigeria 119 Benin Bronzes sculptures with a ceremony held at the National Museum in Lagos, showcasing four of them in the museum's courtyard. Egyptian antiquities Many artworks and artefacts have over the centuries been looted from Egypt, the cradle of an ancient civilisation that has long fascinated Europeans. Among the most high profile cases are the Nefertiti bust, the Rosetta Stone and the Dendera Zodiac, which are on show in top museums in Germany, the United Kingdom and France. The bust of Nefertiti, the wife of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, was sculpted around 1340 BC but was taken to Germany by a Prussian archaeologist and was later given to the Neues Museum in Berlin. The Rosetta Stone, a basalt slab dating from 196 BC, has been housed in the British Museum since 1802, inscribed with the legend "Captured in Egypt by the British Army in 1801". It bore extracts of a decree written in Ancient Greek, an ancient Egyptian vernacular script called Demotic and hieroglyphics. The Dendera Zodiac, a celestial map, was blasted out of the Hathor Temple in Qena in southern Egypt in 1820 by a French official. © 2025 AFP

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