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yesterday

Egypt Says Pharaoh’s 3,000-Year-Old Bracelet Was Stolen by Restorer and Melted Down

Police describe an insider theft that ended with the gold recast.

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Gold funerary mask of Amenemope, Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, Cairo
EGYPT - APRIL 22: Great mask of King Amenemope, gold, from Tanis. Goldsmith art, Egyptian civilisation, Third Intermediate Period, Dynasty XXI. Cairo, Egyptian Museum (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)
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Overview

  • The bracelet linked to King Amenemope vanished from a safe in the Egyptian Museum’s restoration lab on Sept. 9 as items were being prepared for a Rome exhibition.
  • Investigators say the restorer sold it through traders to a workshop before a smelter melted it with other scrap, destroying the original artifact.
  • Police arrested four suspects, including the museum restoration specialist, and seized proceeds of roughly 180,000–194,000 Egyptian pounds (about $3,700–$4,025).
  • Before the arrests, the Tourism and Antiquities Ministry circulated the bracelet’s image to airports, seaports and land borders and convened a specialist committee to audit the lab’s holdings.
  • Authorities say the public prosecution is continuing its probe and inventory checks to ensure no other losses, with museum security facing heightened scrutiny ahead of the Grand Egyptian Museum’s planned opening.