A former British Museum employee stole more than 300 pieces of art, selling them at an antiques market before being caught red-handed, a new book has revealed. Nigel Peverett, who worked in the museum's Department of Prints and Drawings in the early 1970s, remained a frequent visitor until April 1992, when he was caught leaving with 35 prints worth around £5,000.
When police searched Peverett's cottage in Kent, they discovered 169 more prints valued at an estimated £27,000. He then admitted stealing a further 150 prints, which he had already sold. Peverett had taken the artworks, sometimes entering the museum with one bag and leaving with four, and used a razor to scrape off catalogue numbers or cut them down before selling them through a dealer at Portobello Road antiques market.
The story is recounted in Barnaby Phillips' forthcoming book, 'The African Kingdom of Gold', which states that the museum recorded the thefts and attempted to recover the items. By November 1992, 55 prints had been recovered, but at least 95 are believed to still be outstanding, having been sold for cash to unknown buyers.
Peverett died in 2023. Phillips met his family, who described him as 'charming but feckless', loving art and classical music but 'totally irresponsible and hopeless with money'. He was prosecuted, suffered a nervous breakdown, attempted suicide, spent six weeks in a psychiatric hospital, and received a suspended sentence. Remarkably, his family claimed he was allowed to keep his British Museum pension.
A British Museum spokesperson said: 'These events occurred decades ago, and the individual was caught and prosecuted at the time. Thefts will unfortunately always be a risk for every museum... we take safeguarding the collection incredibly seriously.' The museum has committed to fully digitising the collection within five years.
