BBC News | Antiquities dealer who exposed British Museum thefts dies aged 61

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Dr. Ittai Gradel, a former academic turned antiquities dealer, died of cancer at 61 after exposing a massive theft from the British Museum, in which hundreds of gems and other artefacts were sold on eBay and hidden for years. In 2021 he warned museum officials that a senior curator, Peter Higgs, was stealing items, but his concerns were initially dismissed; a later internal probe confirmed that about 2,000 objects were stolen, missing or damaged, prompting the resignation of the museum’s director and a police investigation that is still ongoing. Gradel supplied evidence, returned dozens of gems, and would have been a key witness in any future prosecution. In recognition of his “very significant contribution,” the museum posthumously awarded him its highest honour, a medal, shortly before his death in a Danish hospice. Born in Haifa in 1965 and raised in Denmark, Gradel’s encyclopedic knowledge of ancient gems enabled him to identify stolen pieces, and he spent his later years cataloguing and returning over 360 items, hoping his work would inspire a new generation of gem scholars.

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