Friday 18 August 2023

BM "It's Chaos Down There"



More information keeps coming out on the missing BM objects case. Dorothy Löbel @DLVLK writes:

"The vast majority of the gems listed on eBay before 2016 by a man calling himself Paul Higgins and using the handle Sultan1966 were like this:" [the implication seems to be that this is Dorothy's screenshot].



With reference to the muddle the BM reserve collections seem to be in, she also reports  "I am aware of other gems that are missing, but it’s very unclear when they went missing. I have images of gems which appear to be missing from the BM, but it’s very unclear when they went missing - having a 1926 photo ain’t all that useful … - and I think it would be counterproductive to assume they went missing recently. Gems were also destroyed by WW2 Nazi bombs". "These two gems have been missing from the British Museum since the 19th century and before the 1960s. If you know where they are, a) I’d really like to study them and b) the BM would probably like them back … ", "The good news is this long ‘lost’ gem was recently located in the BM. No-one had seen it since the 1960s (it’s 18th century, inspired by Augustan gems)  [video]."

Dorothy Löbel also reports: "I’m the only person who’d asked to see the vast majority of the more obscure gems in decades, because few people study them. Two foreign colleagues have seen quite a lot of BM gems in the last few years, and none of the ones they wanted to see were missing." 

 One other point. She alleges (19 sie 2023 1:06 AM) ·that the person who spotted the agate cameo from the Townley Collection on sale on eBay (and thus presumably who made the 2016 screenshot) was involved in the trade: 
"The dealer claims he immediately recognised it as one of the Townley gems, and as from the British Museum. The problem is … he didn’t bother to tell the British Museum until 2021. The BM have been investigated [-ing? PMB] since then. And he bought another item off the seller in 2018./ I know there’s a bit of a lynch mob out for the British Museum at the moment. And yes, the dealer does appear to have been right about what he claimed. The problem was his refusal to provide evidence, or only to provide selective evidence, and ideally keep most items he’d bought."
She also notes something that has not been commented on previously, in the screenshot, down in the bottom right corner, the eBay auction number has been erased from the image. Why was that done, and by whom? 

Note that it is being alleged by reporters that Paul Higgins and Peter Higgs are the same person because they have the same online pseudonym, but is "Sultan1966" actually the same as "sultan1966"? Why does the "Sultan1966" twitter account that apparently some desire to be treated as clinching evidence actually contain so little meat, but a lot of bot adverts - and why is it still up and not deleted by its owner?  
 

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