Some thoughts on the British Museum theft: first, I didn't talk to any of the (many) journalists who emailed me about it, partially because I was boarding a long haul flight. Mostly this was because last week there was not enough info to comment, and only enough info to speculate wildly. I'm not up for speculating wildly without facts. I can, however, now speak generally about a few things: 1/ #archaeology#artcrime#museum#museums@artcrime
Finally: I see reporting that says that the items stolen from the BM are possibly worth "tens of millions of pounds". I find that to be unlikely:
Most Roman etc gems on the market are in the few thousand range. Just because a gem is in the BM doesn't mean it is valuable.
A piece stolen from a museum has an actual value of zero. NO ONE wants to buy something stolen from a museum. They only have value if the BM is the one selling them.