By: Ewan Thomson

On March 20, 2023, Mr. Srtauzi (Mr. Srtauzi is a 28-year-old Brazilian artist who came to London in 2022 to study art at Goldsmiths.) found that visitors in The British Museum could handle ancient coins as people told stories about them. Then, in June 2024, Mr. Srtauzi secretly replaced one of the coins with a fake and put the real coin in a donation box on the way out. Mr. Srtauzi is a 28-year-old Brazilian artist who came to London in 2022 to study art at Goldsmiths.

Mr. Srtauzi said that he visited The British Museum 20 times to plan for the heist. He had fellow art students make a replica to replace the real coin. Mr. Srtauzi began planning to steal the coin on March 20, 2023. Then, on June 17, 2024, the planned day of the heist, something didn’t go to plan. He was asked to show both hands so he couldn’t switch the two coins.

The next day he returned with a new look to avoid being recognized and replaced the real coin with the fake one. Three art students helped him film what happened so show the world how Mr. Srtauzi got past museum security. Then, on the way out, Mr. Srtauzi placed the real antique coin in a donation box.

The coin that Mr. Srtauzi stole is a 1645 silver coin from England. It took the museum until July 16, about a month later, for the museum to realize that the coin that they had was a fake. The museum used the artist’s Instagraminstagram page to discover this.

To steal the coin Mr. Srtauzi used some sleight of hand similar to what magicians would learn to trick an audience. This Heist showed flaws in the museum’s security system.

Even before this incident, the museum faced much criticism on acquisition methods. Many nations have questioned the museum’s legitimacy of its collections, and there were two fake coins in a museum display. This incident did not support the museum’s legitimacy. Some people, like Richard Noble, the head of Goldsmiths’ art department, were impressed and supported this project. The Project being Mr. Srtauzi replacing a real old coin with a fake one. The project received “a very high mark,” presumably from Richard Noble.
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In the end, the British Museum has been reminded that security can be an issue.

Source:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/23/world/europe/british-museum-coin-fake.html