Artist switches out coin for a fake in the British Museum

A Brazilian conceptual artist swapped a historic British coin for a fake in the British Museum to highlight the large number of foreign objects it holds.

A Brazilian conceptual artist swapped a historic British coin for a fake in the British Museum to highlight the large number of foreign objects it holds.

Ile Sartuzi said the idea came to him when he saw a museum volunteer handing visitors coins to handle.

He asked for an English Civil War-era silver coin because "it is one of the few British things in the British Museum" and then created a diversion while he swapped it for the fake.

Sartuzi told Reuters he deposited the original coin in the museum’s collection box on the way out. The Art Newspaper first reported his act, which he recounted in a video made for his master’s degree at Goldsmiths, University of London.

The British Museum said it would inform police about the incident, which took place in June.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/artist-switches-coin-fake-british-museum-rcna162990

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