Last Friday, May 17, the British Museum announced in a press release that it had recovered an added 268 objects of the 1,500 identified as missing or stolen from its expansive collection following the theft scandal last August.
The British Museum's Updates on Its Recovery Programme
There had already been an initial some-350 items found just this February, per the institution's last update regarding its recovery efforts, bringing the total to 626 retrieved artifacts and pieces.
In the recent statement, the London museum added that it is currently following new leads for about 100 other objects in Europe and North America.
This series of developments started when senior curator Peter Higgs was identified as the central culprit behind the theft of more than a thousand artifacts. The stealing reportedly occurred across 30 years, with a substantial amount of the items ending up on eBay.
In light of the damage inflicted by the theft scandal, then-director Hartwig Fischer immediately resigned from his post earlier this year. Former deputy director Jonathan Williams followed behind Fischer shortly after the conclusion of an independent review of the whole situation.
The review included 36 recommendations to improve the museum's security, record-keeping operations, and overall governance. Part of this new plan is a complete documentation effort, which the museum aims to complete after five years for $12.1 million.
Chairman of the British Museum's trustees George Osborne commented on the recent developments, saying, "Few expected to see this day, and even I had my doubts. When we announced the devastating news that objects had been stolen from our collection, people understandably assumed that was it - we were unlikely to ever see more than a handful of them again."
"That's usually the history with thefts like this. But the team at the British Museum refused to give up," he continued. "Through clever detective work and a network of well-wishers, we've achieved a remarkable result: more than 600 of the objects are back with us, and a further 100 have been identified - in total almost half the stolen items that we could recover."
"It's a great result but we're not resting here - the hunt goes on for the remaining missing objects. I urge anyone with any information to follow the example of all who've helped us and get in touch."
