Antiquities dealer who exposed thefts at British Museum dies aged 61

The academic turned antiquities dealer who exposed the theft of hundreds of artefacts from the British Museum has died aged 61.

Dr Ittai Gradel, from Denmark, alerted the British Museum and the police after he was able to buy dozens of museum artefacts on eBay over the course of several years.

Gradel died of renal cancer days after receiving a rarely presented medal from the museum in recognition of what its director called his “very significant contribution”, according to the BBC.

A police investigation is still ongoing, more than three years after the museum reported the thefts to Scotland Yard after pressure from Gradel. Before his death in a Danish hospice, Gradel – who would have been a key witness in any trial – told the BBC it was “a bit annoying” he wouldn’t live to see the resolution of the case.

Gradel had tried to persuade the museum to investigate the thefts in 2021, when he first suspected gems from the museum’s collections were being sold online for as little as a few pounds apiece. He accused the museum of initially stonewalling him and “sweeping it all under the carpet”.

Two years later, following its own investigation, the museum announced that 2,000 items from its collection, mainly classical gems and gold jewellery from the ancient Mediterranean area, were stolen, missing or damaged.

The events, which made headlines around the world, led to the resignation of the museum’s then director, Hartwig Fischer, who admitted it was “evident that the British Museum did not respond as comprehensively as it should have” to Gradel’s earlier warnings.

Gradel had reported that he and other antiquities dealers had unintentionally bought items online that came from the British Museum’s collection. He said he suspected that a senior curator at the museum had been stealing, and provided a PayPal receipt featuring the name of the curator he suspected of selling them, Peter Higgs.

Higgs, an expert in Greek antiquities, denies any wrongdoing. He had worked at the British Museum for 30 years before being sacked.

But the museum dismissed Gradel’s concerns, even after he persuaded another dealer to return an olive green gemstone he had bought on eBay.