Dr Ittai Gradel gave the British Museum everything it needed to catch a thief. The museum responded by telling him he was wrong.

Gradel, the Danish antiquities dealer who exposed the theft of hundreds of artefacts from one of the world’s great cultural institutions, has died of renal cancer at a hospice in Denmark. He was 61. Days before his death, the museum awarded him its rarely presented medal — a gesture of esteem that arrived after years of institutional stonewalling.

The story he uncovered is staggering in its simplicity. Ancient Greek and Roman carved gemstones from the museum’s collection were being sold on eBay, some for just a few pounds. Gradel spotted them because he had a photographic memory and recognized items from obscure catalogues he owned. He brought his evidence to the museum’s leadership in 2021, including a PayPal receipt bearing the name of the curator he suspected, Peter Higgs.

Five months later, the museum’s then deputy director Jonathan Williams wrote back: all objects were accounted for, the claims unfounded. One of those objects had only been accounted for because Gradel himself had persuaded another dealer to return it. Court documents later alleged the thief faked a handwritten note claiming that gem had been stolen in 1963. Museum staff believed the records.

When the truth finally emerged in 2023, the museum announced that 2,000 items were stolen, missing, or damaged. Director Hartwig Fischer resigned, admitting the institution had not responded as it should have. Higgs, who denies wrongdoing, was sacked after 30 years. Gradel signed more than 360 items back to the museum.

The police investigation remains ongoing more than three years on. No charges have been brought.

Gradel told the BBC near the end it was “a bit annoying” he wouldn’t see the case resolved. “I suspect it will just fizzle out, the charges will never be brought and nothing will come of it.” Born in Haifa in 1965, he fell in love with the British Museum at 18, systematically visiting every display case over months. He described classical gems as “a burst of pure joy” — tiny stones holding stories forgotten for two millennia.

“With my death, there is one less gem expert,” he said. The institution he loved, then shamed, then ultimately helped reform is the poorer for it.

Sources