Egypt Says 3,000-Year-Old Bracelet Stolen, Melted Down, Sold for $4,000

Egypt’s Interior Ministry said the bracelet was stolen by a restoration specialist and eventually sold in Cairo’s jewelry district.

A tourist sits beside Pharaonic statues displayed at the Grand Staircase of the Grand Egyptian Museum during a partial trial opening of the museum in Giza, Egypt, on Oct. 15, 2024. Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters

A 3,000-year-old gold bracelet that went missing from an Egyptian museum earlier this month was stolen and melted down, Egypt’s Interior Ministry said on Sept. 18.

Egypt’s Antiquities and Tourism Ministry had earlier reported the loss of the bracelet, which belonged to King Amenemope of the Third Intermediate Period, who ruled Egypt around 1,000 B.C.

The bracelet, decorated with spherical lapis lazuli beads, vanished from a safe in a conservation laboratory on Sept. 9, according to the ministry.

The Interior Ministry said the bracelet was allegedly stolen by a museum restoration specialist whom it did not name. The specialist allegedly sold it to a silver trader, who then passed it to the owner of a workshop in Cairo’s jewelry district.

The workshop owner allegedly sold it to the operator of a gold smelter, who recast the metal, the ministry said.

The Interior Ministry added that proceeds from the sale amounted to no more than 194,000 Egyptian pounds ($4,000). It is unclear whether the bracelet was insured or valued by the museum.

Following the theft, a special committee was set up to review artefacts in the laboratory to see whether anything else had gone missing.

Ports, Airports Alerted

Images of the missing bracelet had been circulated to antiquities units at Egypt’s airports, ports, and land border crossings, amid fears it would be smuggled overseas.

The theft comes only two months before the new Grand Egyptian Museum is due to open near the Giza Pyramids. More than 100,000 artifacts are housed at the museum.

When it opens in November, it will showcase Egypt’s ancient heritage and aim to boost tourism, a vital source of foreign currency for the country.

The museum, which cost $1 billion to build, was originally the brainchild of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted in 2011 and died nine years later, aged 91.

During the Arab Spring in 2011, the police and security forces—who had been loyal to Mubarak—abandoned their posts guarding Egypt’s antiquities, leading to many artefacts being plundered.

The Egyptian Museum, close to Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo, was among the worst-affected sites. Among the items reported looted was a gilded wood statue of the boy king Tutankhamun being carried by a goddess.

The Grand Egyptian Museum partially opened last year with limited access.

In 2022, Italy opened the Museum of Rescued Art to house ancient artworks and artifacts, mainly from the Roman Empire, that had been illegally smuggled out of the country.

Reuters contributed to this report.