British Museum Seeks Treasure Hunter to Recover Stolen Antiquities

[Puff the Tragic Wagon]

Just saw this and thought some of our British members might be interested.

The British Museum is stepping up the search for hundreds of lost antiquities by hiring a dedicated treasure hunter. The chosen candidate will be responsible for recovering gold jewelry and semi-precious stones that were allegedly stolen by the museum’s ex-curator for Greece and Rome.

British Museum Seeks Treasure Hunter to Recover Stolen Antiquities

The British Museum is stepping up the search for hundreds of antiquities, stolen in 2023, by hiring a dedicated treasure hunter.

news.artnet.com

 

[ToddsPoint]

Never donate to a museum. A noble gesture, but museum employees can’t be trusted. The IL State Museum caught a janitor, a high school kid, selling a samurai sword out the back door. Museum employees have no skin in the game. A private collector has skin in the game and protects his or her investments.

 

[Gare]

Sounds like a VERY Dangerous undertaking !!!
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[searcher]

Sounds like a BBC TV series script.

 

[Puff the Tragic Wagon]

Never donate to a museum. A noble gesture, but museum employees can’t be trusted. The IL State Museum caught a janitor, a high school kid, selling a samurai sword out the back door. Museum employees have no skin in the game. A private collector has skin in the game and protects his or her investments.

That’s an interesting take. So, how does the public get to visit, actually see a private collection?

I think you may be using a false equivalence in comparison. Museums have just as much “skin in the game” as a private collector. The only difference is that they must depend on others/employees to help maintain it for the public. That dependence sometimes comes at a cost, as we see in this instance. A loss that they’re willing to pay someone to recover, by the way.

In my opinion Museums accept the possibility of loss as a cost of making these treasures available for the public to view. A private collection usually remains private. Safe for the collectors but a loss for the public.

I suppose it all depends on what a person defines as “the game”.