The FBI is investigating the sale of what are suspected to be hundreds of artifacts from the British Museum to buyers in the United States, the BBC reported on Monday.
According to the report, the US law enforcement agency has also facilitated the return of 268 items, which the London museum claims belong to it, that were sold to a collector in Washington DC.
Last year, the British Museum announced that ancient gems, jewelry, and other items from its collection were missing, stolen, or damaged. Out of the 1,500 items it estimates are stolen or missing, 626 have been recovered so far, and 100 more have been located but not yet returned.
The vast majority of the suspected stolen treasures were uncatalogued, and the museum is still working on proving they belong to its collection.
Peter Higgs, the museum’s curator of Ancient Greek collections and the acting head of the Greece and Rome department, is accused by the British Museum of stealing, damaging, melting down, and selling ancient artifacts. The museum estimates that Higgs pocketed around $130,000 in total. He denies the allegations.
Thefts from the British Museum for at least a decade
According to court documents in a civil case, the museum is bringing against Dr Higgs, it believes he was stealing items for at least a decade, selling mostly unregistered items from the museum’s storerooms.
The museum believes Dr Higgs, who has been dismissed, had sold items to at least 45 buyers on eBay.
Three buyers have said the seller “sultan1966” presented himself as “Paul Higgins” or “Paul” on eBay or over email with them. According to the court documents, the museum says Dr Higgs admitted the account sultan1966 belonged to him. The New Orleans buyer, Tonio Birbiglia, told the BBC he had bought two items from sultan1966.
One was an amethyst gem depicting a Cupid – the Roman god of love – riding a dolphin, which Birbiglia bought for $53 in May 2016. The other was an orange scarab-beetle gem he bought for $216. Birbiglia sent his payment for this item to a PayPal account registered under Dr Higgs’ personal email address.
Birbiglia, who worked for an antiquities gallery at the time, said he was “completely shocked” when the FBI contacted him. He said he probably bought the gems in order to sell them on, adding “I can’t even remember any of it”.
The BBC says the FBI has also assisted with the investigation of 268 items in the Washington DC area that were sold by the same seller.
A source close to the buyer told the BBC he bought items from sultan1966 over eBay – subsequently dealing directly with the same seller by email – and that he paid up to $9,000 for the items. According to the source, the seller used the name of “Paul Higgins” during the transactions.
The BBC adds that the gems have now been handed over to the British Museum, where work to prove ownership is ongoing.
Related: With 2,000 Thefts, the British Museum Faces a Historic Crisis