"Priceless" collection of coins stolen from UK museum
Michigan
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A "PRICELESS" coin collection and other precious artifacts in the trust of Sefton Council are feared to have been stolen from the public.
Council bosses admit they have no idea what has become of the Dethick-Brown collection of rare Roman coins, which was housed at the Botanic Gardens Museum, and have reported the loss to the police.
A host of other items including rare Victorian and early American coins, Egyptian antiquities, oil paintings and birds' eggs are said to be missing or damaged.
Tory candidate for Meols ward in the May elections, Mike Swift, has accused public officials of being "asleep at the wheel".
At the Southport Area Committee last Wednesday he asked for reassurance that efforts would be made to find the missing items.
Mr Swift was told about the missing artifacts by coin expert Alan Dawson, secretary of Ormskirk and West Lancs Numismatic Society, who reported the apparent loss of the Dethick-Brown collection to the council in November.
His reply from head of leisure services, John Taylor, said: "Despite a thorough search of the museum and the art gallery, the strong rooms at Bootle and Southport Town Halls and enquires made at other museums likely to have been interested in borrowing it at the time, the collection has not been found.
"Without offering this as any kind of legitimate excuse, this loss dates from a time when there were no nationally agreed standards for the management of collections, security at both sites was minimal and
staffing levels were poor."
The loss had been reported to the police and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council's crime file and security at Botanic Gardens Museum had
been tightened, he added.
The Dethick-Brown collection featured Roman emperors Carausius and Allectus.
"They were very important coins, they were in splendid condition and there were a lot of them," Mr Dawson said.
He said the value was probably in the high thousands, but for research they were "invaluable" and had been "woefully underestimated" by the museum.
On offering to help catalogue the musuem's coins last year, he also noticed a rare Victorian gold five pound piece and rare early American coins were missing, together with ancient coins inherited from the Bootle Town Hall Collection.
Mr Dawson viewed the museum's cellars with a police officer and found "tray after tray of birds' eggs smashed under foot and strewn all over the
floor, stuffed birds lying broken and mildewed, oil paintings in smashed frames and cabinets of Masonic and other ceremonial regalia lying rusting and damp."
Mr Taylor from Sefton Council replied that all that was in the cellars at that time was "general junk", despite an art dealer friend of Mr Dawson valuing one of the broken oil paintings at a four-figure sum.
Earlier this year former Sefton Labour councillor Brian Reynolds told Champnews.com he believed art works lent to council staff for their offices had been kept after their retirement.
These allegations were denied by Sefton.
Meanwhile, Mr Swift is determined to take the matter further.
"I am not satisfied with the response I got," he said.
"I am awaiting a written reply to my question. What was very
interesting was in the council chamber a member of the public dashed across to thank me for raising the matter and to say some items a relative of hers donated had also disappeared."
Council bosses admit they have no idea what has become of the Dethick-Brown collection of rare Roman coins, which was housed at the Botanic Gardens Museum, and have reported the loss to the police.
A host of other items including rare Victorian and early American coins, Egyptian antiquities, oil paintings and birds' eggs are said to be missing or damaged.
Tory candidate for Meols ward in the May elections, Mike Swift, has accused public officials of being "asleep at the wheel".
At the Southport Area Committee last Wednesday he asked for reassurance that efforts would be made to find the missing items.
Mr Swift was told about the missing artifacts by coin expert Alan Dawson, secretary of Ormskirk and West Lancs Numismatic Society, who reported the apparent loss of the Dethick-Brown collection to the council in November.
His reply from head of leisure services, John Taylor, said: "Despite a thorough search of the museum and the art gallery, the strong rooms at Bootle and Southport Town Halls and enquires made at other museums likely to have been interested in borrowing it at the time, the collection has not been found.
"Without offering this as any kind of legitimate excuse, this loss dates from a time when there were no nationally agreed standards for the management of collections, security at both sites was minimal and
staffing levels were poor."
The loss had been reported to the police and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council's crime file and security at Botanic Gardens Museum had
been tightened, he added.
The Dethick-Brown collection featured Roman emperors Carausius and Allectus.
"They were very important coins, they were in splendid condition and there were a lot of them," Mr Dawson said.
He said the value was probably in the high thousands, but for research they were "invaluable" and had been "woefully underestimated" by the museum.
On offering to help catalogue the musuem's coins last year, he also noticed a rare Victorian gold five pound piece and rare early American coins were missing, together with ancient coins inherited from the Bootle Town Hall Collection.
Mr Dawson viewed the museum's cellars with a police officer and found "tray after tray of birds' eggs smashed under foot and strewn all over the
floor, stuffed birds lying broken and mildewed, oil paintings in smashed frames and cabinets of Masonic and other ceremonial regalia lying rusting and damp."
Mr Taylor from Sefton Council replied that all that was in the cellars at that time was "general junk", despite an art dealer friend of Mr Dawson valuing one of the broken oil paintings at a four-figure sum.
Earlier this year former Sefton Labour councillor Brian Reynolds told Champnews.com he believed art works lent to council staff for their offices had been kept after their retirement.
These allegations were denied by Sefton.
Meanwhile, Mr Swift is determined to take the matter further.
"I am not satisfied with the response I got," he said.
"I am awaiting a written reply to my question. What was very
interesting was in the council chamber a member of the public dashed across to thank me for raising the matter and to say some items a relative of hers donated had also disappeared."
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Comments
Total Copper Nutcase - African, British Ships, Channel Islands!!!
'Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup'
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
Member ANA, SPMC, SCNA, FUN, CONECA
<< <i>Sounds like the stolen items are now in better homes. >>
Hate to say it but I agree. Terrible.
...
I think people will think twice before donating to that one.