Missing 3,000-Year-Old Egyptian Bracelet Found to Have Been Stolen, Sold, and Melted Down

A little more than a week after a priceless pharaonic gold bracelet disappeared from a conservation lab in Egypt, the country’s Antiques and Tourism Ministry reported that the stolen artifact had been sold for 194,000 Egyptian pounds (around $4,000) and melted down. The 3,000-year-old treasure, adorned with lapis lazuli beads, belonged to King Amenemope, who reigned in Egypt around 1,000 BCE.

In the days since the bracelet went missing on September 9, it was found to have been stolen from a safe by a restoration specialist, sold to a silver trader, and passed on a gold smelter who recast it with other metals, according to a report by Reuters.

A committee had been established to survey artifacts in the laboratory, and pictures of the bracelet were circulated to Egypt’s airports, seaports, and border crossings on the suspicion that it might be smuggled abroad. A CBS News report said that four suspects have since been arrested, and proceeds from the sale have been recovered.

As noted upon the news of disappearance earlier this week, work on the bracelet—which was in the collection of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo—was being conducted in the lab in advance of it traveling for an exhibition titled “Treasures of the Pharaohs” opening next month at the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome. The loss also comes before the scheduled opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum near the Giza Pyramids in November.