Over 1,200 items and artefacts at Aberdeen Art Gallery still remain missing nearly four years after an investigation into the collection was first launched.
It was revealed in 2021 that objects worth an estimated £166,000 in the city council’s collection could not be found, with only 126 having since been located.
The local authority said its Aberdeen Archives, Gallery and Museums adhered to nationally agreed standards for collections management.
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More than 1,300 items were recorded as missing from Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums collection back in November 2021, but the council said it was “optimistic” many of the items would be found.
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They blamed a suspected recording error during the refurbishment of the art gallery for the disappearance of the artworks, with only around 10% of the missing items photographed.
Items still to be traced, including a Neolithic stone axe and 400 antiques featuring ancient Chinese ornaments, have yet to be traced, with nearly 700 artefacts missing.
As well, around 120 items have been classified as stolen, including a purple velvet evening bag, with the losses said to have happened over many years and even potentially decades.
Aberdeen City Council’s culture spokesperson, councillor Martin Grieg, told the BBC “considerable efforts” had been made to make sure staff were aware what was within the collection.
He told BBC Radio Scotland’s Lunchtime Live programme: “There are occasions where artefacts are stored and not properly indexed.
“We have put in place a very robust system of making sure we have up to date reports and records of all the items in the collection.
“There will be a proportion that have been stolen, a proportion will have been misfiled, in the wrong place or mis-labelled, so there is work underway to find out exactly what we have and where.”