The British Museum says it has recovered some of the stolen 2,000 items

By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — The British Museum says it has recovered some of the 2,000 items believed to have been stolen by an insider. Chairman of trustees George Osborne acknowledged Saturday that the thefts had damaged the museum’s reputation. He said the 264-year-old institution does not have records of everything in its vast collection. The stolen items include gold jewelry, gemstones and antiquities as much as 3,500 years old. The incident has sparked the resignation of the museum’s director and raised questions about security and leadership. Director Hartwig Fischer announced his resignation on Friday, apologizing for failing to take seriously enough a warning from an art historian that artifacts from its collection were for sale on eBay.