The British Museum theft case lost one of its earliest and most persistent outside investigators this week. Ittai Gradel, the Danish gems specialist and art dealer whose warnings helped expose the disappearance of thousands of objects from the museum’s collection, died on April 28 at 61 after a battle with renal cancer.
Gradel’s role in the scandal began in 2021, when he alerted the British Museum that objects he believed belonged to its holdings were appearing for sale on eBay. An authority on engraved gems from the Greco-Roman world, he went further, identifying senior curator Peter Higgs as the suspected source of the material. In one 1,600-word message, he pointed to a Roman cameo he had found online, along with other ancient artifacts.
The museum did not act on those warnings at first. Gradel wrote again in October 2022, but was told he had provided no evidence to support his claims. Only later, after the British Museum reported to police that an inventory had uncovered hundreds of missing or damaged objects — mostly from ancient Greece — did the scale of the problem become clear. British media reports later estimated that more than 1,500 items were involved, with one object valued at $64,000 listed on eBay for just $51.
The fallout was severe. Higgs was dismissed in July 2023 and has denied wrongdoing. Hartwig Fischer resigned the following month, saying the museum had not responded as comprehensively as it should have to the 2021 warnings. He later withdrew his criticism of Gradel and said he had misjudged his remarks.
Now led by Nicholas Cullinan, who took over in March 2024, the British Museum is still working to recover the missing works. Earlier this month, Cullinan presented Gradel with a rare museum award recognizing his expertise and his determination that wrongs should be righted — an acknowledgment that arrived just before his death.
