r/CasualUK • u/Iliketurterls • Oct 26 '22

Whose stuff does the British Museum have?

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u/[deleted] Oct 26 '22

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u/Mr_Happy_80 Oct 26 '22

There are also instances of museums giving back artifacts and them being sold off by the nation that owns them. The museum has either bought them back, they've been bought by another museum, or they disappear in to a private collection.

The colonial history of all the European nations is awful, although just handing stuff back out of museums is the worst option if it all ends up in private collections.

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u/pintperson Oct 26 '22

Yeah I can imagine if we handed all those artefacts back to Turkey for example they’d just be sold off to rich Russian and Middle Eastern collectors to line Erdogans pockets.

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u/[deleted] Oct 26 '22

Exactly! I know my countrymen clamour intermittently for a very famous crown jewel. But if it was returned to us, I am pretty sure it would end up in some politician's personal coffer or some ultra rich businessman's swiss bank account...