Since Peter Higgs’ resignation in July 2023, the British Museum filed a complaint against the former curator. Now, a High Court judge is ordering him to return up to 1,800 Greek and Roman artifacts that he knowingly looted.
Following the explosive response to the insider scandal that rocked the British Museum last year, the world’s most infamous art museum is finally bringing a court case against their former curator, Dr. Peter John Higgs. Attorneys for the trustees of the museum filed a 24-page Complaint in the High Court of Justice King’s Bench Division in March 2024, where they documented “compelling evidence” of Higgs “abus[ing] his position of trust” by pilfering gems, jewelry, gold, silver, and other invaluable items from the museum’s collection and “intentionally damag[ing]” some of the artifacts. Eileen Kinsella with ArtNews.Net reports that while “the full extent of Higgs’ alleged wrongdoing is not yet known,” it appears that close to 2,000 artifacts were stolen and hundreds were sold to 45 different buyers through eBay and PayPal. Although Higgs was fired from his position for gross misconduct in July 2023, he has yet to be charged with a criminal offense.
Within the Complaint, the Museum alleges that he used sophisticated methods, afforded to him through his very senior and elevated position, to leave no traces of his wrongdoings, such as changing 83 entries for the stolen items in the catalog, specifically targeting unregistered and donated items, and taking advantage of the Museum’s lack of basic maintenance and safety around their storerooms. Two of the museum’s legal representatives, Daniel Burgess and Warren Fitt, told the court that “a 1993 audit of a storeroom showed that there were 1,449 unregistered items present, but during another audit in 2023, 1,161 - just over 80% of those items - were missing from the same storeroom.”
To sell his chosen loot, however, the former curator chose to employ rather curious methods—he used PayPal accounts linked to his home address and emails and went by pseudonyms that were very similar to his real name to receive payments (i.e., Paul Higgins vs. Peter Higgs). The High Court has since reached out to the e-commerce and online payments companies to disclose their records on the sales. In his office, the police found handwritten notes and printed instructions for how to edit the museum database in order to make the objects virtually untraceable. Kinsella, like many other reporters, believes that “many of the attempts at hiding his [Higgs’] actions were shoddy or downright absurd.”
But this leaves a glaring unanswered question: why would someone who planned such a meticulous and painstaking manipulation of the system make such a simple error?
Higgs was an eminent curator and head of Greek and Roman art who had been working with the British Museum for close to 30 years. In 2021, he was the curator for the International Touring Exhibition, “Ancient Greeks: athletes, warriors, and heroes,” which, according to the Museum, examined the “theme of competition in ancient Greece” through sculpture, jewelry, armor, vases, and sporting paraphernalia, among other precious artifacts. Interestingly enough, the majority of the items that Higgs stole during his time at the Museum were those that were not meant to be put on display, but that were kept for research and academic purposes. As of late, close to 650 artifacts have been returned to the collection with 100 found but not yet returned. When the Museum launched their international campaign to help return the stolen artifacts last summer, only 356 had been returned.
But this isn’t all that has been dug up on Higgs. Along with the ongoing lawsuit, there is also an active police investigation that spans many international jurisdictions. In August 2023, the Metropolitan Police searched Higgs’ East Sussex home and seized 11 electronic devices, a notebook with the registration numbers of the stolen and damaged artifacts, and a collection of ancient coins that matched the “registered and unregistered coins kept in the museum’s Greek and Roman reserve room.” Higgs denied the allegations, arguing that this collection belonged to a deceased relative—a very different story than the one he peddled to collector Ittai Gradel in 2013. While the majority of the evidence seized during this raid remains in the custody of the Metropolitan Police, The Honorable Mrs Justice Heather Williams DBE ordered Higgs to “list or return any stolen items within four weeks,” confirming that there is “cogent evidence” that the Museum’s allegations indeed ring true.
In May 2024, the FBI joined the hunt as they are currently investigating collectors in the United States who bought stolen artifacts from Higgs. So far, they have recovered over 250 works from a collector in Washington D.C. and another collector in Louisiana revealed to the BBC that the FBI had emailed him about two artifacts that he purchased on eBay. One of the objects was an amethyst gem that depicted Cupid riding a dolphin, which he bought for £42 ($55) and the other was a beetle gem that he paid £170 ($224) for in 2016. Since the buyer is no longer in possession of the gems, the FBI have turned their search elsewhere.
The museum has also connected Higgs to Rolf von Kiaer of Helios Gallery Antiquities, who bought a gem from Higgs in December 2015 along with a plethora of other artifacts that he acquired between July 2009 and November 2016. Most of these works were then sold again to other buyers abroad, including Gradel and Martin Henig, another collector who brought attention to the thefts in 2020. The Museum maintains that von Kiaer purchased many antiquities from a “Paul Higgins” and a “Simon Higgins,” the latter a new alias that Higgs went under.
Other places where Higgs’ loot has turned up include Denmark (with the case of Danish antiquities dealer, Ittai Gradel, who first alerted the Museum to the stolen items), Germany (in Hamburg and Cologne), France (Paris), and Hong Kong. Some of the artifacts have even made their way to other museums around the world! One of the many of the items that Gradel bought from Higgs in good faith—the assumption that both parties deal fairly and honestly to receive the benefits of the contract—has ended up on display in the Deutsches Edelsteinmuseum in Idar-Oberstein, Germany. According to the collector, he sold it to another private collector who then loaned it to the museum for an exhibition. This gem is a rare depiction of Hercules in obsidian, which is estimated to be worth thousands of pounds. In emails to which the BBC has been granted access, Higgs sold a story that the head belonged to his sibling who had inherited it from their grandmother. He wrote to Gradel, “I think it's glass - very nicely-modeled little head, about 3cm high. I don't know if you are interested in things like this, but if you are, we are open to offers.” In the end, Gradel was indeed very interested in the item, for he paid £300 ($396) for it. This obsidian gem, along with most of the artifacts that Gradel bought from Higgs, has been returned to the British Museum.
This is a great reminder that the rapid mobilization of these law enforcement agencies and turnaround of artifacts is remarkable. A search and rescue of this caliber might take months, or even years, to commence, so the fact that close to 700 pieces have already been found attests to the British Museum’s influence over the world’s art and heritage. Nevertheless, for those 1,100 pieces that are still unaccounted for, experts believe that there is a high probability that they have been melted down, recut, or even sent abroad and held in more lucrative private collections.
Christopher Marinello, CEO of Art Recovery International, shared with Artnews that “the length of time that has passed since the discovery of the thefts at the museum severely reduced the likelihood of their recovery.” Given that this long-term heist wasn’t the work of “‘unsophisticated’” criminals who are in it for “‘quick cash,’” I am hesitant to accept that the majority of the works have been destroyed. But as Marinello brought up the example of Henry Moore’s $18 million bronze outdoor statue Reclining Figure, which was stolen from his foundation in 2005 and melted down, the idea of such destruction becomes a hard truth to swallow. Much of the smaller antiquities that were in the British Museum’s collection are made from precious metals like gold and silver or precious and semi-precious stones like emerald or obsidian.
Though more and more damning evidence piles up against him, Higgs still maintains his innocence. According to the filing, to which ArtNews.Net has access, Higgs “is suffering from severe mental strain and is seeking counseling for mental health and depression and is unable to respond effectively to the proceedings. He is represented by solicitors in the criminal proceedings, who have provided some assistance to him in respect of the civil proceedings on a pro bono basis. It is understood however that he will not be represented at the hearing.” In an interview with the Times, Gregg Higgs, the curator’s 21-year-old son, argued that his father hadn’t done anything wrong, claiming that “he’s lost his job and his reputation and I don’t think it was fair. It couldn’t have been [him]. I don’t think there is even anything missing as far as I’m aware….I’ve never known somebody who’s so passionate about what he did. I mean, he’s a world expert in his field.”
When the scandal first hit the news in 2023, both the director and deputy director of the Museum, Hartwig Fischer and Jonathan Williams, respectively, stepped down. In his own press statement, Fischer acknowledged that the Museum did not take the allegations as seriously as they should have and accepted responsibility as the Director. Williams, on the other hand, quietly left his post as more evidence about his “incompetence” came to light. When asked about his opinion on it by the BBC, Gradel responded, “He should have gone long ago.”
While probing deeper into the matter, especially given Gradel’s ill-will towards the Museum’s staff, it appears that Higgs had been the subject of controversy many times before. In 2002, a British journalist with The Sunday Times was sent undercover to test the security measures of the Greek and Roman collection. As Billy Kenber and Constance Kampfner report, “security was so lax that the reporter was able to carry out part of an ancient Greek statue without being noticed.” When confronted about the ‘theft,’ Higgs answered that the department was “chaos.”
Concerns about Higgs’ aptitude for his position were brought to the attention of the Trustees in as early as 2020, when an antiquities expert found some artifacts for sale on eBay. One year later, Ittal Gradel alerted museum officials that more and more of their collection was being offered for sale. In emails reviewed by the Telegraph’s director, Gradel asked Williams, via a 1,600 word email, to look into reports that a gem (intaglio) from the Museum’s collection had been spotted on the e-commerce company’s platform. After 3 months with no response, Gradel tried again. Two months later, Williams sent him back an email, claiming that the Museum’s “thorough investigation” found that “the objects concerned are all accounted for and with no suggestion of any wrong-doing on behalf of any member of Museum staff.”
With this unsatisfactory answer, Gradel brought his inquiry to Sir Paul Ruddock, a museum trustee, and George Osborne, the board chairman. While Williams and Fischer brushed off his complaints, Ruddock and Osborne were quick to act. When asked in December 2023 about his stance on Williams’ actions, Osborne replied that “It’s absolutely clear that when the museum was warned by Dr. Gradel in 2021, the museum did not respond adequately to that warning.”
The Museum’s failure to act when the allegations were first brought up to them has inevitably damaged their reputation. Now whether that damage is indeed ‘beyond repair’ is a different story. In an effort to be open and willing to confront their more recent controversies, the Museum decided to curate a show dedicated to 10 stolen items from their storerooms. This show will investigate the significance of classical gems and highlight their recovery. Osborne was proud to announce the opening of this exhibit, asserting that “we promised we'd show the world the gems that were stolen and recovered - rather than hide them away.” The Museum has also asked Gradel to help curate the show and the Danish collector was delighted. Like much of the artifacts that make their way into museums’ storerooms, these artifacts are “overlooked” but provide “beautiful and fascinating insights into the tastes and mindsets of the ancient Greeks and Romans.” The gems were on display from February to June 2024, but it seems that the Museum has bigger plans for them in the future.
Like with most of the Museum’s scandals, however, the biggest repercussion (or shall we say, success) to come from this one were renewed calls for repatriation of the thousands of objects of cultural heritage and property that are held in its collections. Pressure continues to mount on the Musuem to return the Benin Bronzes to Nigeria and the Parthenon Marbles to Greece. Now, Ethiopia, Ghana, and China have joined the call, listing thousands of artifacts ranging from the Maqdala Collection (which was looted when the British stormed Maqdala in 1868) to the Asante King’s bracelet to stone buddhist sutra scrolls of the Wei and Jin dynasties.
So where does the case go from here? As Kate Fitz Gibbon writes, there is little that any legal resolution can do to speed up the process. In a contract of sale under UK Law, the statute of limitations provides that the buyer has 6 years from the date of the contract breach to bring a claim. Given that many of the sales of the artifacts were more than 6 years ago, there are now new legal challenges in this regard. For example, according to UK Law on the buying and selling of art and antiquities in the United Kingdom (England and Wales), “the statute of limitations comes to the rescue of the buyer in good faith: the ownership of the dispossessed owner whose artwork was stolen is extinguished after six years from the date of the first acquisition in good faith.” Does this mean that the British Museum is technically no longer the owner of many of its artifacts? Who is the owner? Who gets to sue? What happens if the Museum demands the return of an artifact from a begrudging buyer who refuses to give them back?
At the same time, as many of the items are invaluable—that is, something so precious that it cannot be assigned value—the Museum cannot receive monetary compensation for the harm. If the court awards damages—a sum of money paid to the innocent party in compensation for a breach of contract—to the museum, Higgs will definitely not be able to pay.
Whatever the outcome, Higgs career and reputation are, without a doubt, ruined. At this time, he has refused, so far, to provide information on the case and can do so under the privilege against self-incrimination, which falls under common law and section 14(1) of the Civil Evidence Act 1968. Nevertheless, as Fitz Gibbon notes that the charges against him fall under the Theft Act 1968, the Criminal Damage Act 1971, and the Fraud Act 2006, such a privilege does not apply.
Stay tuned for future developments!
(Cover Image: Peter Higgs (right) with the British Museum’s collection of Ancient Greek and Roman antiquities, The New York Times)
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