Recovery of missing items
What can you do to help?
If you are concerned that you may be, or have been, in possession of items from the British Museum, or if you have any other information that may help us, please email us at [email protected]
For more general enquiries please email us at [email protected] or call (0)20 7323 8000.
On 16 August 2023, the Museum announced that a number of items of jewellery from the collection had been found to be stolen, missing or damaged, and that this was the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Metropolitan Police Service.
The Museum also spoke of its determination to recover the items. This webpage gives details of the losses, describes some of the things that we are doing to recover the items, and says what you can do to help.
What is missing?
On the advice of recovery specialists, we are not sharing full details of the lost and damaged items at this time. What we can share is the type of material that we believe has been stolen.
The vast majority of the items are from the Department of Greece and Rome and mainly fall into two categories: gems and jewellery. The items illustrated here are similar to those that are missing, but are still in the collection.
Classical Greek and Roman gems
Gems, cameos or intaglios are small objects, often set in rings or other settings, or left unmounted and unfinished. They may be made of semi-precious stone (for example sard, sardonyx, amethyst) or glass; they may be cast from a mould or engraved by hand. The majority of gems are from the Hellenistic and Roman world, but some may also have been made in modern times in imitation of ancient gems. They may feature images of famous individuals from the Classical past, of mythological scenes, animals or objects. These gems are of varied quality. Some will be fragmentary and damaged.
Gold rings, ear-rings and other pieces of jewellery
These date from across antiquity, especially from the Late Bronze Age (about 15th to 11th century BC) and the Hellenistic and Roman periods.
Other items
While the majority of the items are gems and jewellery, our investigations suggest that there are also a number of other types of materials amongst the missing objects – such as small sculptural fragments and Greek pottery.
Classical Greek and Roman gems
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![Translucent burgundy engraved intaglio set into a pale gold ring - the glass intaglio is damaged and missing most of the bottom half, revealing the interior of the ring socket which is lightly scratched.]()
Roman sard intaglio
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![Rough orange glass cameo in an uneven oval shape with a central dolphin-shaped figure raised from the surface - the glass is heavily textured and appears dull or sandy especially in areas of low relief.]()
Roman cameo in orange glass imitating sard
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![Lightly chipped blue glass oval intaglio, depicting a feminine figure in combat with a multi-headed snake - the figure is shown trampling the creature, wielding a double-axe in one hand and grasping it with the other.]()
Intaglio in blue glass
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![Dark green oval glass intaglio, engraved with a seated male figure holding a spear in one hand with the other resting on a shield propped up beside him. The surface of the glass shows a mottled texture and the edges of the intaglio appear slightly darker than the centre in tone.]()
Hellenistic plasma intaglio
Gold rings, ear-rings and other pieces of jewellery
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![Gold ring featuring an elaborate bezel of concentric circles formed of alternating strips of plain and twisted gold wire which surrounds a lustrous multi-tone gold material inlay.]()
Late Bronze Age finger-ring
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![Long gold chain necklace with clasps at each end in the shape of horned lion heads and collars formed of large single brown beads - one of the lion heads is holding a hook clasp in its mouth while the other holds a hoop and pin.]()
Greek gold chain necklace with horned lion's heads terminals
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![Gold hoop earring made of two flat strips of metal twisted together in a spiral or corkscrew formation with tapered ends which overlap each other.]()
Late Bronze Age ear-ring
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![Thick round gold bracelet with overlapping ends which taper into wires and wrap tightly around each other - the surface of the gold band features several small dents as well as a series of numbers written in black on the inside (although these are partially obscured by the curved surface).]()
Roman bracelet
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![Dull gold tapered ring featuring a roughly formed bezel inscribed with what appears to read "FEL" - there are several deep scratches around the edges of each character while the band of the ring shows minor wear.]()
Roman finger-ring with an inscribed bezel
What are we doing to recover lost items?
The actions we are taking include:
- We have registered missing items with the Art Loss Register.
- We have established an international panel of specialists, including leading figures in the study of gems and jewellery, who will offer their expertise to assist us in identifying and retrieving the lost items.
- We are actively monitoring the art market.
- We are continuing to work in partnership with the Metropolitan Police Service.
- Finally, we have established an email hotline for anyone with information that might aid the recovery programme: [email protected]
What is the latest progress?
Thanks to the steps above, we have now recovered 626 items – and have new leads for a further 100 objects. The gallery below contains 10 of these recovered items, which were featured in the Rediscovering gems exhibition (15 February – 6 June 2024) and explored the significance of classical gems and the impression they have left throughout history.
We remain committed to retrieving as many items as possible.
In the coming months, we expect to issue further updates on the progress of our recovery programme. These updates will include information on the material that we have recovered and recognition of the many people offering us help.
Recovered items
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![A luminous yellow glass round, engraved with the form of a man with an eagles head and wings.]()
Ancient glass intaglio with Jupiter as an eagle abducting Ganymede
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![Opaque black glass with an engraving of the profile of Minerva in a helmet]()
Ancient glass intaglio with profile bust of helmeted Minerva
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![An oval glass intaglio, striped with bottle green, sky blue, white and deep blue, with an engraving of a man leaning against someone and holding a stick]()
Ancient glass intaglio with Bacchus leaning on Silenus
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![A dark brown glass intaglio engraved with the shape of a man's face with a long curly beard]()
Ancient glass intaglio with mask of Silenus
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![A circle of wine-red glass engraved with the left-facing profile of a boy]()
Ancient glass intaglio with profile of Roman beardless youth
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![An oval wine-red glass cameo, engraved with a seated figure]()
Ancient glass cameo with Hermaphroditus
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![A deep blue glass cameo carved with the figure of a lying dog seen from above]()
Ancient glass cameo with a lying dog
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![A pink glass circle with an opaque white glass centre, engraved with the portrait of Cupid]()
Ancient glass cameo with winged Cupid's head
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![A brown circle of glass with a white opaque centre engraved with Cupid's face and with amber glass around the neckline]()
Ancient glass cameo with winged Cupid's head
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![Dark brown circle of glass with an opaque centre, engraved with the profile of a beaded man]()
Modern glass cameo with bust of a bearded man
What can you do to help?
If you are concerned that you may be, or have been, in possession of items from the British Museum, or if you have any other information that may help us, please contact us at [email protected]
For more general enquiries please email us at [email protected] or call (0)20 7323 8000.
