Most people don't believe how lax security is in most museums even at the British Museum https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/13/style/artefacts-british-museum-scrap-gbr-scli-intl/index.html Best be careful on what artifacts your bidding on.
Ouch. What disgusts me even more than the theft is that some items were damaged with tool marks. Barbaric.
Sold for scrap???? What do they mean by that? Are they saying that bronze, silver and gold artifacts were sold to be melted down at refineries?
from the article-- "A key target for the apparent thefts, it said, appears to have been “unregistered” gems and jewelry"
Yup. Not uncommon for stolen precious metal artwork. Happened to the largest gold coin ever minted (100 kg!). See link. Hard and risky to sell the artwork; easy to sell precious metal. Cal link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Maple_Leaf
I knew about the Big Maple Leaf theft. That getting melted is not as regrettable to me as if it had been some unreplaceable ancient artwork.
