Several museums in the UK have acknowledged the loss, theft, or destruction of hundreds of items from their collections over the past five years, shedding light on a widespread issue in the sector following last year’s British Museum thefts scandal.
Among the institutions revealing such occurrences are the Imperial War Museum, the National Museum of Scotland, and the Natural History Museum. The disclosure of this information follows Freedom of Information requests submitted by The Independent, which initially broke the story earlier this week.
Between 2018 and 2023, the Imperial War Museum documented the loss of 539 items and one item stolen from its collection. Similarly, the Natural History Museum reported 12 missing items, while the National Museum of Scotland recorded six items lost, one stolen, and one destroyed in a fire during the same period.
The Independent highlighted specific missing items, including mammal teeth dating back over 65 million years from the Mesozoic Era and a gastrolith (stomach stone) from the Dinosaur Gallery, assumed to have been stolen, both from the Natural History Museum. A spokesperson for the museum emphasized the seriousness of collection security, which encompasses over 80 million items, many of them small ecological specimens such as teeth, fish, and frozen animal tissue.
In 2022, a telephone handset from the Havilland Comet 4C, the world’s first commercial passenger jet aircraft, was likely stolen from public display at the National Museum of Scotland.
According to The Independent, other institutions reporting lost items since 2017 include Museum Wales, which documented 16 missing items, and The Science Museum Group, which reported four lost objects between 2018 and 2023. The article also highlighted budget cuts and staffing reductions at the Metropolitan Police’s Art and Antiques Unit, severely impacting the team’s ability to investigate art crimes in London.
These revelations come in the wake of Nicholas Cullinan’s appointment as the new director of the British Museum, following the resignation of previous leadership amidst revelations of 2,000 stolen, damaged, or missing items from the museum’s collection.
Cullinan assumes leadership of the 256-year-old institution during a period marked by low morale and scrutiny of its operations. Efforts are underway to recover missing items, tighten security and inventory procedures, and address calls for the repatriation of objects, including the Parthenon Marbles and the Benin Bronzes, both significant components of the British Museum collection and subjects of ongoing debate.
The theft scandal that unfolded last year resulted in the resignations of director Hartwig Fischer and deputy director Jonathan Williams from the British Museum.
Additionally, the museum has initiated legal action against former longtime curator Peter Higgs regarding the missing items. Although the institution’s initial statement regarding the thefts did not disclose the identity of the terminated staff member, Higgs was promptly identified in subsequent news reports.
