In a remarkable case of museum oversight, a striking Asante gold disc stolen from the British Museum in 1991 was exhibited by leading institutions and sold at auction for years without detection. Historian Barnaby Phillips has uncovered this scandal, revealing that the disc, taken from a wooden display case, circulated openly in the art world for over a decade.
The 1991 Theft and Initial Disappearance
The theft occurred in October 1991 at the Museum of Mankind, which housed the British Museum's Department of Ethnography. A warder discovered a display case prised open during a lunchtime round, with a discarded screwdriver left at the scene. Although the museum reported the theft to police, the disc seemed to vanish without trace, leaving authorities baffled.
Circulation Through Museums and Auction Houses
By 1994, the disc had resurfaced in the possession of Karl-Ferdinand Schaedler, a prominent German collector of traditional African art who died in 2024. Schaedler featured the disc in his publications and loaned it to museums, including Vienna's Museum für Völkerkunde, with no one suspecting its stolen status.
In 1999, Schaedler sold the disc through Sotheby's auction house, where it was purchased for a few thousand pounds by the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The museum even used the disc as inspiration for its 2002 African art festival logo, printing it on T-shirts, unaware of its illicit origins.
Discovery and Recovery
The disc's true identity was finally uncovered when Doran Ross, a Ghanaian art scholar at California's Fowler Museum, noticed its similarity to the stolen object and alerted British Museum colleagues. Decorated with a distinctive sun pattern, this akrafokonmu (soul disc) measures 21.5 centimetres in diameter, making it the largest in the British Museum's collection.
Thought to have been created in the early 20th century and possibly gifted by Europeans to a Gold Coast chief, it was donated in 1925 by Sir Bignell Elliott, a timber merchant from Kentish Town. After the discovery, the British Museum trustees arranged a loan agreement with the Indianapolis Museum, framing it diplomatically to avoid public scandal.
Historical Context and Ongoing Revelations
Barnaby Phillips, a former BBC correspondent, details this case in his new book, The African Kingdom of Gold: Britain and the Asante Treasure, published this Thursday. He notes that the British Museum's webpage was updated in 2025 to include the disc's "loans" to Indianapolis and European museums but omitted any mention of the theft, calling the recovery "sheer good fortune."
Phillips raises critical questions about due diligence, asking, "What diligence did Sotheby's do on the collection it sold in 1999?" He reflects on the roles of Schaedler, Sotheby's, and the British Museum, noting that Schaedler, described by a friend as "completely honest," might have been horrified to learn the disc was stolen.
Broader Implications for Museum Security
This incident follows the British Museum's 2023 admission of sacking a curator over the theft of hundreds of antiquities, highlighting ongoing security challenges. In response, the museum has emphasized its commitment to safeguarding collections through enhanced security and digitization efforts, aiming to have the full collection digitized within five years.
Sotheby's declined to comment on the matter, while the British Museum stated that these events occurred decades ago and the object has been safely returned. The Daily Mail has reached out to American and Austrian museums involved for further comments, underscoring the global nature of this art world scandal.
