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 Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon marbles, sacked a member of staff over the thefts, which are also being investigated by the Metropolitan police.

“Essentially we were the victims of an inside job by someone, we believe, who over a long period of time was stealing from the museum and who the museum had put trust in,” Mr Osborne told the Commons’ Culture, Media and Sport committee.

“Quite a lot of steps were taken to conceal [thefts] … a lot of records were altered and the like.”

Mr Osborne said there were “lots of lessons to be learned” as a result. 

He added: “If someone is entrusted by an organisation to look after something and they are the person removing those objects, that is hard for any organisation, and it was hard for the museum, where there is a trusting culture.”

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Asked if they were confident that their security practices are in place, a spokesperson for the National Museum of Scotland said: “As part of our regular schedule of internal audits, we carried out an audit of our security processes last year and, whilst we always keep such things under review and scrutiny and are aware of events elsewhere, we are satisfied that those processes are robust and that our staff have a good understanding of them.”

Asked about the theft of the handset, the spokesperson added: “Since this incident we have implemented additional controls at the National Museum of Flight, namely increased invigilation of the aircraft and a programme of applying Perspex security controls to some areas of collections on open display.”