Jewelry Stolen from British Museum Offered on eBay
August 21, 23
(IDEX Online) - Items of jewelry stolen from the British Museum, in London, and worth as much as $63,000 (£50,000) each were advertised for sale on eBay for as little as $51 (£40).
A long-serving curator has been dismissed following an internal investigation, according to the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
Pieces of jewelry made of gold, semi-precious stones and glass, some dating back over 3,500 years, disappeared.
Sources told the newspaper many items had not been properly catalogued, or several had been "lumped together".
The British Museum (pictured), founded in 1753, documents human culture from its beginnings to the present.
It has a permanent collection of eight million works, the largest of any museum in the world.
A spokesman for the British Museum said: "We have conducted a thorough investigation, identified the person we believe to be responsible, and that person has been dismissed.
"We are also taking further robust action to ensure this can never happen again."