You’d think that the place where ancient artifacts and the most important pieces of history are stored is protected with high-level security. However, stealing from museums is easier than we might think. From today’s story, it’s apparent that all it takes is putting an artifact in your pocket without anyone noticing.
This woman recently confessed that during a school trip more than 20 years ago, she pocketed an original Egyptian relic and hasn’t told a soul about it ever since. Once she shared this online, netizens urged her to return it, providing suggestions on how to do it.
Despite having high-level security, museums continue to experience thefts
Image credits: Jomkwan / freepik (not the actual photo)
As a kid, this woman was one of the thieves and has kept this secret for more than 20 years
Image credits: The Metropolitan Museum of Art (not the actual photo)
Image credits: HannaaaLucie
According to Interpol, there are more than 52,000 physical artifacts missing
Image credits: NataliMilko / freepik (not the actual photo)
More established museums, like the British Museum and the Natural History Museum, have collections consisting of millions of objects, of which only a small percentage is displayed for public viewing. Unfortunately, these relics are stolen every day globally, according to Christopher Marinello, lawyer and founder of Art Recovery International, an organization specializing in finding and recovering stolen artifacts worldwide.
Interpol, which tracks items taken from archaeological sites and museums, estimates that there are more than 52,000 physical artifacts missing and no one knows where they are. Security measures like guards, video surveillance, motion detectors, bag checks, metal detectors, X-ray machines and other security devices don’t always prevent thieves from using deceptive tactics to acquire historical pieces. Occasionally, visitors pocket an artifact out of a museum or gallery, with some aiming to make a bit of money or perhaps feel a little thrill.
Since most of the focus goes to securing public displays, many museum thefts also happen from the inside by employees who have access to stored collections. They usually have one out of three motivations to steal, the first being that they take the job already having the intention of theft. Others might realize while working that no one is keeping an eye on these items and they take something. Alternatively, the employee could be contacted by external people and asked to cooperate with the theft.
“Typically with staff dishonesty it starts very small and escalates over time… each time getting a little bolder, taking a little bit more,” said criminology professor Emmeline Taylor. However, taking artifacts isn’t always motivated by financial gain. Some become attached to the things they see every day and pocket them, saving them as keepsakes in their home.
Most of these people are never found. “With a lot of art crime, there is nobody to arrest and people rarely go to prison. It’s just a matter of recovering the work,” said Marinello. But if a person gets caught red-handed, they are sent to prison on a light sentence, as juries see art thefts as soft crimes.
One way to protect artifacts from theft is to catalog them
Image credits: freepik (not the actual photo)
Experts believe that the only way to protect artifacts from theft is to catalog every item they have, with detailed descriptions and photos from every angle. However, due to the number of objects and their size, most collections aren’t fully recorded, with many of them not having their pictures.
“We always think all these people are decent people in the museum, and if someone there abuses this lack of record keeping what can you do? You expect people not to steal. You can’t give them a full body search every time they leave the museum,” said art detective Arthur Brand.
He adds that these catalogs should have a second database that can’t be accessible to staff so they can’t alter them and things can be double-checked. “If you don’t have a complete inventory, everything else—all the other security measures—they are only going to get you so far in terms of protecting the collection,” noted Alice Farren-Bradley, manager of the global Museum Security Network.
Some museums are already working to catalog all of their collections. After thefts in 2023, the British Museum was told to improve its records. It responded by agreeing to spend around £10 million to document its entire collection and put it online within 5 years.
The woman provided more information in the comments
Commenters urged the woman to return the stolen artifact to the museum
While some confessed to similar stories
