Over 1,700 objects are currently missing within England's Museum collection across the span of the last two decades, the Guardian reports.
The absence of the items was previously unpublicized before the PA news agency had put in requests, following the Freedom of Information Act, to the relevant museums and galleries.
This revelation came after the controversies surrounding the British Museum theft scandal came to light last December, which involved around 2,000 artifacts being stolen, defaced, or disfigured.
'Unlocated' Items in England's Museum Catalogs
In the recent report, one of the institutions comprising England's Museum, London's National Portrait Gallery, had 45 items listed as "not located." It clarified, however, that these objects were not missing nor were they stolen.
These items that were indicated as "not located" between 2007 and 2022 include an 1869 drawing of Queen Victoria, an engraving of King John granting the Magna Carta dated to the mid-19th century, a bronze sculpture of painter Thomas Stothard, and a 1947 negative taken during the wedding of Queen Elizabeth II to Prince Philip.
As per the gallery, it is still in the process of completing its searches following a three-year refurbishment, with the items listed as "not located" representing a mere 0.2% of the institution's total collection.
On the other hand, there are 180 missing objects within London's Victoria and Albert Museum which comprise oil and watercolor paintings, illustrations, some fake mustaches, underwear, a shadow puppet, and a mousetrap, among others.
It is currently unclear whether the aforementioned items were lost or stolen, according to the V&A museum.
The Tate's art museums and its galleries, alongside the National Gallery, have broken away from the trend of the reports as these institutions have listed no missing items within their respective collections.
This is not the case for The Royal Museums Greenwich, which could not find around 245 items across its locations in south-east London.
These unlocated objects include a navigational aircraft computer, a gun-sighting telescope, charts, liquid compasses, a parliamentary act, an Altazimuth circle, and a cannonball, alongside hat ribbons and bands.
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The Natural History Museum reports the loss of over 180 fish specimens in 2020, a crocodile tooth, and a jaw fragment that was part of the remains of a late Triassic Diphydontosaurus which were lost during a loan facilitated in 2019.
The Science Museum Group stated that two model steam trains were stolen, which include a King George V and a British Railways Standard 4MT Class. The incident was reported to the police in 2014.
In addition, the institution has also reported the disappearance of a 1960s deep-sea observation chamber model, a diver's torch, a resuscitating apparatus, and a portrait of Joseph Marie Jacquard dated to the 19th century.
Comparably, only seven items from the Horniman Museum and Gardens' collections were recorded as missing. Among those objects is a 1933 protective charm.
For institutions like the Wallace Collection, Museum of the Home, Sir John Soane's Museum, and National Museums Liverpool, only a few objects were recorded as missing.
In contrast, the Imperial War Museum has listed over 550 missing items including ship camouflage drawings, private papers belonging to a British army officer, a calendar that enclosed a photograph of then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, and historical currency notes.
