British Museum Seeks Specialist to Hunt Down Missing Treasures
57Jan. 7, 2026
TheBritish Museumis looking for an experienced treasure hunter to track hundreds of Greek and Roman antiquities that went missing from its collection in recent years and were possibly stolen by an employee. Tom Harrison, head of the institution’s Greek and Roman collections, told theLondon Timesthat he hopes to hire someone to focus on “writing letters to dealers, auction houses, and collectors around the world” with the goal of getting the artifacts back as soon as possible. The successful candidate will assist a five-person team described in theTimesas “overstretched.”
The museum made unwanted headlines in 2023 when it was brought to light that some 1,500 objects— including gold jewelry, semiprecious stones, and glass pieces dating as far back as the fifteenth century BCE—had vanished from its collection over a span of years. After the revelation of the thefts, many of which involved uncatalogued items, longtime director Hartwig Fischerhastenedhis alreadyplanneddeparture and deputy director Jonathan Williams, who had beenwarnedof the thefts as early as 2021,stepped down. The museum is currently suing veteran curator Peter Higgs, who isaccusedof having stolen the items and peddled them for a pittance on eBay. Higgs has denied all allegations.
To date, 654 of the missing antiquities have been recovered. Harrison told the Times that though the recovery team is experimenting with AI tools and has on occasion retrieved large groups of objects after following up on a tip, “more and more, it’s just one object, two objects.” He said it was likely that the stolen gold had been melted down but that he still remained hopeful about getting some of it back before he is “retired or under the ground.”