Egypt shock as 3,000-year-old priceless artefact ‘melted down and sold for £2,750’

Egyptian police believe the artefact, a 3,000-year-old bracelet once worn by a Pharaoh, was stolen while being restored before being melted down and sold for just £2,370

A priceless millenia-old ancient Egyptian artefact was stolen from a museum before being melted down and sold for less than £3,000, police believe.

The bracelet – that was supposedly once worn by the Pharaoh Amenemope – vanished when it was being restored in a lab at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, authorities believe. The artefact, believed to be from around 1,000 BC, was stolen^[1] and melted down, according to Egypt’s interior ministry.

Authorities said a restoration specialist took the bracelet from a safe, nine days ago, and contacted a jeweller she knew. The woman allegedly sold the priceless artefact to a gold^[2] jeweller for £2,750, the ministry said.

READ MORE: UK Foreign Office gives updated advice for British tourists travelling to Egypt^[3]READ MORE: Long-lost painting stolen by Nazis spotted 80 years later in real estate listing^[4]

This jeweller then sold the 3,000-year-old bracelet to a gold foundry worker for £2,900, who officials say shockingly melted it down with other pieces for jewellery.

Images of the ancient bracelet were circulated in airports^[5], ports and border checkpoints across the country to try and catch the thieves before the artefact was smuggled out of Egypt.

Four people have been arrested and allegedly confessed to the crime while the money from the sale was seized by the government, according to Egypt’s interior ministry.

Egypt’s tourism and antiquities ministry on Tuesday revealed the bracelet disappeared but they had taken immediate action and informed the police.

Local media reports have suggested the museum noticed the item was missing as it prepared to send dozens of items to Rome for an exhibition. The ministry revealed that legal action would be taken against the four people in custody.

The bracelet was a gold band which featured spherical lapis lazuli beads – a once rare and highly coveted deep blue gem, which was prized among ancient Egypt’s ruling classes. This precious artefact was beloved by Pharaoh Amenemope – who ruled ancient Egypt from 993 to 984 BC. His tomb was discovered by French Egyptologists in 1940.

The Egyptian Museum is home to over 170,000 artefacts and is the oldest archaeological museum in the Middle East.

A priceless 3,000-year-old statue of Tutankhamun’s sister^[6] was stolen from a museum in Egypt in 2013. The special limestone carving – called Daughter of the Pharaoh Akhenaten – was among 1,000 items looted from the Mallawi museum.

The exquisite statue, carved in the 14th century BC, was the museum’s most prized exhibit and was due to be transferred to a new museum dedicated to the family of Akhenaten – Tutankhamun’s father.

At the time, archaeologist Monica Hanna said: “I think the looters knew what they were taking.” Robbers left just 46 items in the museum that were too heavy to carry off. The priceless statue was thankfully found and recovered months after it was stolen.