As reported in the media this week, a dramatic ram raid took place at the Museum of Miniature Found Objects. At 3.28pm on Tuesday a Volvo estate car smashed through the entrance doors of the museum. Four masked men, brandishing machine guns and machetes, then entered the exhibition hall. They snatched a number of items on display and fled the building on foot. 

The ticket office in the entrance foyer suffered severe damage in the attack, though no staff or members of the public were harmed. The men are currently being sought by the Metropolitan Police and Interpol.

The thieves' haul included the famous Byzantine earring know as 'The Empress's Tears'. One of a pair, the earrings were a gift to the Empress Theodora of Arabissus in 1355 from Tsar Ivan Alexander. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453 the earrings' whereabouts were unknown until recently, when one of the pair was found on the south-west corner of the junction between Downs Park Road and Pembury Road, in east London. The earring had been generously donated to the museum. A spokeswoman for the museum described staff as 'distraught' at the loss.

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Found object:

= earring: 10.02pm, Monday 23 July 2012, junction of Downs Park Road and Pembury Road, east London.

The Museum of Miniature Found Objects has enjoyed a recent surge in donations to its collection, curiously many of them heart-shaped objects. The museum is delighted to be able to give an advance showing of a small selection of these, which will shortly be appearing in the forthcoming exhibition 'Human Organs: Voyages in Dystopia'.

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Found objects:

= filigree metal heart: 5.59pm, Saturday 18 June 2011, Hackney Town Hall, Mare Street, east London;

= glass heart: 2.30pm, Tuesday 10 July 2012, Hillside Crescent, Stanstead Abotts, Hertfordshire;

= heart-shaped sweet: 10.08am, Friday 29 July 2011, Guildsway, east London;

= 'I Love You' pink plastic heart bubble kit: 6.11pm, Friday 10 August 2012, Dunsmure Road, north London;

= metal heart with arrow: 8.51am, 9 August 2011, Earls Court Road, west London;

= metal heart with Eiffel Tower: 9.15am, Tuesday 14 February 2012, Glen Osmond Road, Adelaide, Australia;

= pink striped plastic heart: 6.13pm, Monday 3 September 2012, Dunsmure Road, north London;

= plastic heart with dog's face: 11.38am, Saturday 23 June 2012, Stoke Newington High Street, north London;

= silver metal heart: 6.31pm, Tuesday 24 April 2012, Woodberry Down, north London.

Visitors to the Museum of Miniature Found Objects have been reporting some difficulty in locating the museum. Understandably, those unfamiliar with the labyrinthine warren of streets behind the British Museum may easily miss the

MMFO's entrance, despite its intriguing neo-gothic portico and the crenellated clock tower rising above. Happily the clock's famous sequences of chimes ('Old Ma McGinty's Lament' and 'The Pride of the Balls Pond Road') sounding hourly have assisted a number of visitors in finding their way. To ensure all visitors are able to enjoy the museum's renowned collection and extensive range of facilities, a map is now available. Copies can be obtained at the desk by the main entrance. In addition, there is an online, interactive version available for downloading.

Continuing the Small & Short Film Festival, the Museum of Miniature Found Objects was delighted to show Kangmin Kim's 38­­-39°C, which takes place in a Korean public bathhouse. Kangmin Kim had moved from South Korea to California to study animation. He went regularly to Koreatown's public bathhouses in Los Angeles and on a visit to a very small, old one, the steam-filled atmosphere flooded his mind with memories of his South Korean childhood. And from this experience 38-39°C emerged:

"My goal has always been to make experimental, narrative films. I didn't want to make a 'clear' film, instead I wanted the audience to feel the emotions from images, not plot. Characters are not important to me, the bathhouse is more important." (Hyphen Magazine)

As part of the Small & Short Film Festival, the Museum of Miniature Found Objects showcases this film of a slightly less well-publicised opening ceremony heralding the start of the 2012 Olympics, by Leo Bridle ­­and Amaël Isnard. The city on show in Olympic Vermin is the one most Londoners know, rather grubby and mundane — as the filmmakers themselves say, "We tried to show another side to the city, the everyday, zone-2 areas that most people live in and spend their time in. We purposefully avoided the centre and any classic London landmarks." And in this workaday place Bridle and Isnard have created a small, self-contained world, enjoying its own, cheery event.