By: Kyle Xu

A man behind a table showcases coins to visitors at a museum. A visitor picks up a British coin from the 1700s. Examines it. Puts it back. Little did the museum know, the visitor had swapped the authentic coin with a fake.

Last month, Brazilian artist Ilê Sartuzi used a magician’s trick to steal a coin from the money section at the British Museum, swapping it with a fake. He then deposited the real coin in the donation box on his way out. Sartuzi, a student of art at the University of London, Goldsmiths, had been planning for this moment for more than a year.

The artist arrived at Goldsmiths in 2022 to study art. On his first trip to the British Museum, a spark went off in his head when he saw the Museum’s “Hands on Desks” program, where visitors were allowed to touch and feel the coins while museum staff explained their history.

Sartuzi instantly had an idea to pull off a stunt that would question the provenance and rightful ownership of artifacts acquired during colonial times. Since then, he has visited the museum 20 times, each time learning more and more about not only the architectural structure but also about how he would pull off his heist. “I was weirdly walking around the museum, counting my steps,” said Mr. Sartuzi, 28.

Although the museum thought the incident morally wrong, Sartuzi had already meticulously planned the stunt with an art lawyer. The museum could do nothing about Sartuzi’s stunt, which resonated well with the public, for the museum had had its collections questioned before, along with their legal ownership of some items.

The heist was completed on the second try, in fact. On June 17th, the day of the would-be heist, Sartuzi was caught by an official who asked him to open both hands. But Sartuzi would not give up. Instead, he shaved his beard and came back the next day to fire off a stunt that would shock,amuse, and inform everyone who had ever engaged in the universe of art. And that’s precisely what he did.