Posted on 09/22/2025 11:00:23 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Earlier this month, an ancient Egyptian bracelet was stolen from a restoration lab in Cairo's Egyptian Museum. Dating back 3,000 years, the gold artifact had belonged to Amenemope, a pharaoh who ruled during Egypt's Third Intermediate Period.
Now, investigators have discovered the artifact's whereabouts: They say a museum employee stole the bracelet and sold it for less than $4,000. The buyer melted it down...
Museum staffers discovered the bracelet was missing when they were itemizing artifacts for shipment abroad last week, reports the London Times' Magdy Samaan... the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities... found that the artifact had passed from a museum restoration specialist to a silver trader to the owner of a jewelry workshop. The workshop owner sold it to a gold smelter, who melted it down. Four suspects have been arrested...
The bracelet was a simple gold band decorated by one spherical lapis lazuli bead. It had been part of the collection of the pharaoh Amenemope, who ruled from Tanis in the Nile Delta during Egypt's 21st Dynasty...
In Egypt, stealing an artifact with the intent to smuggle it is punishable by life in prison and fines of up to $100,000, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP). Charges against the parties involved have not yet been announced.
(Excerpt) Read more at smithsonianmag.com ...
Why, I can’t see them making any more of them?
I read a few days ago of a solid silver statue of Lincoln stolen and melted down.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/thieves-steal-and-destroy-solid-silver-statue-of-abraham-lincoln-created-by-mount-rushmore-sculptor-gutzon-borglum-180987371/
I remember decades ago of Mayan gold statues being melted down for bullion in Central America.
Some people only see the value of the metal.
Yeah. They’ll send out that slow walking mummy with the bad wrapping job.
Yeah, it’s not gonna end well, unless they’ve got a brown bag full of cash to bribe their way out of trouble, then pay off the fine that will be the public penalty.
Generally speaking, and going back centuries, Egyptian antiquities thieves don’t diversify their income sources.
The cache of New Kingdom pharaohs’ mummies was first discovered by thieves who got caught in the act of going back for more, which was a huge break for Egyptologists.
Since items that were most likely from Nefertiti’s burial started showing up in the markets in Cairo around the late 1890s, it’s probable that there was also a cache of New Kingdom posh women’s mummies that was found and raided, and the raiders never caught, nor was the site found by the authorities.
The first known tomb robbery AFAIK was of Khufu’s mom’s — that is, the builder of the Great Pyramid’s own mother was graverobbed, and this was on the Giza plateau, while an enormous workforce was around 24/7, pulling stones up ramps and whatnot, plus the town that was set up to produce their meals.
/bingo
I have read decades ago, from a publication in Time-Life books that the Ancient Egyptians actually and an office for looters to sell their looted gold back to the government.
😊
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