National Museums Scotland has insisted their security measures are “robust” despite a handful of artefacts being lost or stolen in recent years.
According to a recent Freedom of Information request, between 2018 and 2023 the organisation, responsible for four museums, including Edinburgh’s flagship National Museum of Scotland, has recorded a model of a ‘mother’ tank, some badges from the First World War, miners’ tools, and a miner’s lamp as missing.
All were misplaced while on loan to another institution.
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A mollusc from 1912 was destroyed in a fire at The National Museum of Brazil in 2018.
Meanwhile, a telephone handset was stolen from the de Havilland Comet 4C, the world’s first commercial passenger jet aircraft, which is on display at the National Museum of Flight in North Berwick.
The list of items recorded missing or stolen is tiny compared to the artefacts stolen from the British Museum.
Earlier this week, George Osborne, the chairman of trustees at the London attraction, told MPs that approximately 2,000 items had been stolen from their collections.
The museum, which holds treasures such as the…
