The British Museum was scammed by a stonemasonry company that substituted a cheap stone for the stone it had offered as a sample for building a portico for the museum. The company “mixed samples of Portland stone with a cheaper French limestone to get approval – and then secretly went ahead with building in the French stone. The result has appalled experts. The portico is dazzling white and stands out from the Portland stone that surrounds it. ‘We were mugged,’ said the museum’s managing director Suzanna Taverne.” – London Evening Standard