FBI agents are probing the sale in America of hundreds of treasures suspected of being stolen from the British Museum
The FBI is investigating the sale to US buyers of hundreds of treasures suspected of being looted from the British Museum.
The BBC spoke to an antiquities buyer in New Orleans who revealed a FBI investigator had contacted him regarding two pieces he had bought from an eBay trader using the name sultan1966. The agent said he was assisting the Metropolitan Police.
Last year, a senior curator in the museum's Greece and Rome department, Dr Peter Higgs, was sacked after an investigation found 1,500 items in its collection had been stolen or damaged.
The Museum believes he has stolen, damaged, melted down or sold the items on – pocketing around £100,000 in the process - and is bringing a civil case against him.
According to court documents seem by the BBC, it believes he was stealing items for at least a decade, selling mostly unregistered items from the museum's storerooms. Dr Higgs, 56, from Hastings, East Sussex, denies the allegations.
A senior curator at the museum Dr Peter Higgs (pictured), was sacked after an investigation found 1,500 items in its collection had been stolen or damaged.
The Museum believes he has stolen, damaged, melted down or sold the items on – pocketing around £100,000 in the process
The British Museum has now launched a civil case against their former employee who they believe may have been stealing artefacts for as long as ten years
Tonio Birbiglia, the New Orleans buyer, said he was 'completely shocked' when the FBI contacted him about an amethyst gem depicting a Cupid - the Roman god of love - riding a dolphin, which Mr Birbiglia bought for £42 in 2016.
The agent was also interested in an orange scarab-beetle gem he bought for £170. Mr Birbiglia sent his payment for this item to a PayPal account registered under Dr Higgs' personal email address, but said he no longer possessed the two items.
He said neither the FBI or British police followed up with him and said it seemed the FBI agent 'didn't try very hard'.
The British Museum has not yet examined these items, and so has not determined whether they were from its collection.
The BBC reported that the US law enforcement agency has also assisted with the return of 268 items sold to a collector in Washington DC, which the museum claims belong to it.
Dr Ittai Gradel, a Danish antiquities expert, had raised concerns with the museum about potential thefts two years earlier but staff initially failed to properly investigate. He told the BBC he first had suspicions that parts of the department's collection was being sold online as long ago as 2016, when a piece of a cameo gemstone featuring Priapus - the Greek god of fertility – was briefly posted for sale on eBay by the sultan1966 account.
The Dane, who has a photographic memory, remembered he had seen the gemstone in an old British Museum gems catalogue he owned. He began monitoring the eBay account, and later established it belonged to Higgs', who had given buyers the name Paul Higgins.
One of the artefacts which may have been involved in the trade online of British Museum treasures
The curator used an online profile called sultan1966 to sell the precious gems through and American buyers have said Dr Higgs admitted the account belonged to him
According to the court documents, the museum says Dr Higgs admitted the account sultan1966 belonged to him.
Nobody has been arrested or charged with any offence.
The British Museum declined to comment.
The Metropolitan Police said a criminal investigation was opened in January 2023, following an internal museum audit.
A spokesman said: 'A man was interviewed on Wednesday, 23 August 2023 under caution having voluntarily attended a police station. We will not be providing any further information at this time. Enquiries continue.'
Thief at the British Museum is on BBC iPlayer.
