Missing 3,000-year-old gold bracelet, nationwide search, precautions to prevent crossing borders

 

 

 

A 3,000-year-old gold bracelet has gone missing from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. CNN reports that a nationwide search is currently underway in Egypt for this missing gold bracelet of the pharaoh. This bracelet, decorated with lapis lazuli beads, was kept in the restoration laboratory of the museum in Tahrir Square when it went missing. Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities says that the gold bracelet went missing during restoration work.

Egyptian authorities have distributed pictures of the missing bracelet at all airports, ports and border areas. Authorities say that this step was taken as a precaution to prevent gold from being smuggled. Meanwhile, the museum's director general says that some of the images currently circulating online are not of the missing gold bracelet but of another piece of jewellery kept in the museum. In the wake of the theft, the ministry has announced that all other artefacts kept in the restoration laboratory will be subjected to a detailed examination and review. The examination will be carried out by a specialist committee.

Christos Sirogiannis, a forensic archaeologist at the University of Cambridge, says there is a huge global demand for antiquities. He also speculates that the piece may have been stolen to be sold. He says it is possible that the piece could turn up online, in a dealer's gallery, or at an auction house, or that it may have already been melted down for other purposes.