Ten glass gems that were stolen from the British Museum have been put on display for the first time. The museum announced in August that up to 2,000 objects were missing, stolen, or damaged. So far, 356 items have been recovered from six different sources. Among the gems now on display are an ancient green, white, and blue banded glass gem showing the Roman god Bacchus, and a yellow gem depicting the Greek god Zeus in eagle form. Most of the recovered items came from Danish gemstone dealer Dr Ittai Gradel, who first alerted the museum to the thefts. Gems were highly coveted for centuries but fell out of favor in the 19th Century partly due to the creation of fakes. The museum expects it to take a couple of years to recover more of the stolen items.
Interim director Sir Mark Jones said the process to recover the stolen items has been lengthy and complicated. He believes the British Museum will recover from the incident, despite the strong sense of responsibility the museum feels for the objects in its care. A member of staff has been dismissed and a police investigation is ongoing. The Rediscovering Gems exhibition is on display from Thursday, February 15th until June 2nd.
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