Ancient Greek silver coin reportedly among items stolen from British Museum

One ancient greek silver coin shown to be among the treasures stolen from the British museum.

With the scandal swells daily from the revelations of the British media and there has already been an uproar in British society given that the theft has been systematic since 2013 and involves “around 2000 items”.

Among the missing treasures are jewelery and ancient coins according to a police source told The Times, while it appears that “the vaults of the British Museum were looted for more than 20 years” by “kleptomaniacs”.

According to the report reproduced by ERTthe stolen items are reportedly as follows:

• Miniature ancient Greek silver coin, acquired in 1948
• A Roman coin of the 4th century AD, acquired in 1994
• Early 20th century ring, acquired in 2001
• Group of 42 pieces of different handmade vases, acquired in 2001
• Rim sherd, rounded in shape, belonging to a handmade pottery bowl, acquired in 2001
• Groups of 439, 42, 40 and 17 pieces of different handmade vessels, acquired in 2001
• Carved wooden opium scorers in the shape of a frog, a bird and two in abstract form, acquired in 2009
• Slate crescent fragment, acquired in 1963
• Silver chain consisting of three links of thin silver wire with a round cross-section, acquired in 1932
• Hanging composition sheet with green glass coating
• Necklace, composition beads with blue glass coating
• Composition bead, acquired in 1834
• Glass coin-weight, acquired before 1868
• Ceramic lamp, acquired in 1872

The claims for the Parthenon Sculptures

For its part, “The Telegraph” described the scandal as a shameful failure and notes how it “weakens” British claims “to treasures like the Parthenon Sculptures”.

In the meantime, new information is being made public about the actions of a whistleblower who is shown to have informed high-ranking officials of the British Museum.

“The whistleblower gave the British Museum the opportunity to stop the disappearances without publicity. “His failure to take any action as alleged was a dereliction of duty and made it more difficult to counter demands for the repatriation of important parts of the collection, such as the Elgin marbles,” the report said.

The answer to this question is probably given by the director of the British Museum who is speaking for the first time since the revelation of the theft scandal. Hartwick Fisher expressed “disappointment” that “the misappropriation of items from his collection was not apparent when concerns were first raised in 2021”.

“We now have reason to believe that the individual who raised concerns had many more items in his possession and it is disappointing that this was not disclosed to us as it would have assisted our inquiries.”said Hartwick Fisher.

Itai Grandel, the Danish antiquities dealer who alerted the British Museum to the thefts in 2021, has revealed to the Telegraph that he has bought 70 items belonging to the British Museum, which he has now returned.

Criticism of “lack of proper cataloging” is now intense as many objects “disappeared” because there was no adequate record of them.

In the case of jewelry, as Christopher Marinello told ERT, criminals prefer to sell the items as metal and the gems separately to be cut again and their identity lost, even though they will get little money compared to the original value of the antiques.

The police investigation into the great scandal of the British Museum continues without any arrests, while only the curator of the ancient Greek collections was fired in July. His family denies all charges.

The Museum’s director announced last month that he would step down and the search process for his replacement would begin in September. So far no one has claimed any responsibility for the scandal, while the British Ministry of Culture remains silent.