TOI Correspondent from London: Thieves have stolen more than 600 valuable colonial artefacts, including items from the British Raj, from Bristol Museum. On Sept 25, between 1am and 2am, four men gained entry to a warehouse in Bristol which houses the museum’s British Empire and Commonwealth collection. They made off with “a high-value burglary of museum artefacts”, police said. On Thursday police released CCTV images of four men they wish to speak to “to aid them with their enquiries”. An East India Company officer’s waist belt plate mount inscribed with the company’s motto “Auspicio Regis et Senatus Angliae”; a carved ivory elephant ornament; an ivory Buddha on a stone base carved with seven snake heads, and an 1838 US emancipation token issued to promote the abolition of slavery, were among the items stolen. Other items include military articles of historical interest, jewellery, silver items, bronze figurines and geological specimens.Case officer DC Dan Burgan said: “The stolen items form part of a collection that provides insight into a part of British history.” The collection includes a painting of the Delhi Durbar of 1903 to celebrate Edward VII being proclaimed Emperor of India; over 250 letters from British soldier Joseph Stephens, who was posted on the then North West Frontier, and photos taken by Mumbai-born Victor Veevers, a poster artist for Indian Railways in the 1930s.
