Lunchtime Lecture with Barnaby Phillips: The African Kingdom of Gold - Britain and the Asante Treasure | Culture, history & humanities course | London <p>We examine how the British looted gold regalia from the West African kingdom of Asante in the 19th century, what happened to the regalia next, and wh...

Still a few places left on this Friday lunchtime talk at City Lit, near Covent Garden. Do join us.

www.citylit.ac.uk/courses/lunc...

Drum and trumpet with human skulls attached complicate plan for restitution from Los Angeles to Ghana Two West African musical instruments at the Fowler Museum were looted by British troops in the late 19th century

The Fowler Museum in California wants to return looted skulls to Ghana. The ethics - and politics - are not always as straightforward as you might assume. @theartnewspaper.bsky.social has picked up one of the scoops in my book.

www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/04/20/d...

Museums have a duty to inspire the creatives of the future. At V&A East, I’ve made that my mission | Gus Casely-Hayford It breaks my heart to see young people disengaged when so much inspiration is within reach. I want our new museum to bridge that gap, says Gus Casely-Hayford, director of V&A East

Just spotted this Guardian piece by the director of V&A East
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

How did a 16th-century European basin end up as a sacred object in West Africa? Mystery surrounds where the ‘Aya Kese’ was made and how it reached the West African kingdom of the Asante centuries ago

“Perched on top of a ladder in a chilly warehouse next to the A1 [road], I was struck by an overwhelming sense of absurdity. What on earth was the Aya Kese doing here? It meant so much to the Asante, and so little to Britain.”

www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/04/17/h...

Imperial loot and the prospect of its return The African Kingdom of Gold: Britain and the Asante treasure begins in 2024, as thirty-two objects looted by the British from the Asantehene’s palace in

A wonderful review in the @thetls.bsky.social
'painful detail...raw and intimate...meticulous research' ; the story of how the British looted the gold regalia from the Asante kingdom.

www.the-tls.com/politics-soc...

Well, invading 'because you did not display it' would certainly be interesting !

The Gold Trade and Currency of Medieval West Africa (1000-1900 CE) An estimated two-thirds of the world’s gold in the late Middle Ages may have come from West Africa.

An estimated two-thirds of the world’s gold in the late Middle Ages may have come from West Africa.

www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-gold-t...

It covers the period of French colonialism in Africa. I think what will be more contentious are the conditions for return- eg govts must make the request and commit to displaying them in public.

France’s new restitution law passes final vote Procedures for returning objects will be “strictly supervised” and the law applies only to items illegally taken between June 1815 and April 1972

Big news in the restitution/museum world. Nine long years after 'that' Macron speech in Ouagadougou, France has passed a new framework law for the deaccessioning of colonial cultural loot.

www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/04/14/f...

The inaugural Notting Hill Literary Festival! I'll be talking to Gus Casely-Hayford, on empire, loot, West Africa, museums & much more. Saturday 16th May 3pm, do join us. nottinghilllitfest.com

Benin Initiative Switzerland

I'm afraid I don't. MEG only has 3 Bronzes definitely or likely linked to 1897 (2 will go back to Nigeria). You can see all the Swiss research here rietberg.ch/en/research/...

Switzerland Returns Benin Bronzes Switzerland became the latest country to return Benin Bronzes looted by the British in 1897, with a ceremony in Zurich on 20 March in which three museums – the University of Zurich’s Ethnographic M…

My latest, on the Swiss returns of Benin Bronzes...

ial.uk.com/switzerland-...

Finally! Been waiting for this. The Kingdom of African Gold - the forgotten history of Britain and Asante gold. A @barnabyphillips.bsky.social sequel to the excellent Loot.

I reviewed Rory Carroll's A Rebel and a Traitor for the Guardian. It's fascinating, and I'd recommend it.

www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...

The city of Zurich, which owns the Rietberg museum, has announced that 11 objects in its permanent collection are being transferred to the Republic of Nigeria, represented by the National Commission for Museums and Monuments.

buff.ly/JSfNy4I

Very painful. Saliba and Caliafori the only ones who remotely did justice to themselves #COYG

The Wallace Collection has some of the finest Asante gold regalia in the world -bought by Richard Wallace in 1874 when the Kumasi plunder was sold to the British aristocracy. So I'm delighted to see 'The African Kingdom of Gold' in its giftshop. (Apologies back-lit -sun makes rare London appearance)

Sunday stroll, Abney Park cemetery, London, grave of Henry Richard MP 'Apostle of Peace', critic of British imperial wars in Africa, Asia. 'These were not triumphs of Christian civilization, but of barbarism and brute force' he said after Wolseley's invasion of Asante.

Having loved Barnaby's Loot, about the Benin bronzes, can't wait to read this.

The Medieval Jug that Travelled from England to West Africa and Back - Medievalists.net A medieval English bronze jug that travelled to a royal palace in West Africa and back is the focus of a new British Museum exhibition.

A special exhibition has just opened at the British Museum of perhaps the most mysterious object the British looted from Asante.

www.medievalists.net/2026/03/the-...

Why thefts at the British Museum are nothing new Two unrelated thefts in the 1990s show how hard it was to recover stolen artefacts – and even to know that they had gone missing in the first place, writes Barnaby Phillips

‘Maybe, to be charitable, we forget how unconnected we all were before the internet.’

Barnaby Phillips on thefts at the British Museum, back in the 1990s

'This magnificent book...engagingly blends African history with a current relevance that reaches far beyond the continent.’ @thespectator1828.bsky.social on my book 'The African Kingdom of Gold', out this week.

spectator.com/article/the-...

My new book is released tomorrow. But I found it already on sale in the British Library, so signed some copies. A glowing review in today's Oldie magazine- a 'vividly narrated, judiciously presented' account of Anglo-Asante war and plunder.

My new book is released tomorrow! But I found it already on sale at the British Library, so signed some copies. A review in today's Oldie Magazine says it is 'vividly narrated, judiciously presented'.

Congrats Howard !

Why thefts at the British Museum are nothing new Two unrelated thefts in the 1990s show how hard it was to recover stolen artefacts – and even to know that they had gone missing in the first place, writes Barnaby Phillips

From a gold disc from the Asante Kingdom to hundreds of mostly 18th-century prints, Barnaby Phillips uncovers embarrassing security lapses in the British Museum’s recent past

Art thief stole 300 pieces from British Museum before he was caught The former staff member used razors to scrape off labels on prints to avoid identification, before he was stopped as he left the museum with 35 works of art

Little-known fact: Barnaby could develop a sideline as an art heist detective: Art thief stole 300 pieces from British Museum before he was caught

www.thetimes.com/article/1806...

Daunts window full of copies of The African Kingdom of Gold

Great to celebrate the launch of @barnabyphillips.bsky.social new book this evening!

You can just say things.

George Bennett obituary Other lives: Broadcaster with the World Service who sought out talented people to make interesting shows

RIP George Bennett, a big figure from the glory days of the BBC Africa Service.

www.theguardian.com/media/2026/f...