Coțofenești helmet, 450 BCE, National History Museum of Romania.Photo: Ing. Marius Amarie
Posted on 01/25/2025 10:37:17 PM PST by SunkenCiv
On the night of 24-25 January 2025, several archaeological pieces were stolen from the Drents Museum. These were masterpieces from the exhibition Dacia - Empire of Gold and Silver, including the Coțofenești helmet (c.450 BC) from the National History Museum of Romania in Bucharest. Around 03:45 am, police received a report of an explosion. At the scene, it became clear that access had been gained to the property by forcing a door with explosives.
UPDATE 7:49 p.m.: Four objects are missing, in addition to Coțofenești's helmet, three bracelets were taken...
General director of the Drents Museum, Harry Tupan: ‘This is a dark day for the Drents Museum in Assen and the National History Museum of Romania in Bucharest. We are intensely shocked by the events last night at the museum. In its 170-year existence, there has never been such a major incident. It also gives us enormous sadness towards our colleagues in Romania. The police are investigating, we are awaiting the outcome of that.'
...The explosion damaged the museum's premises. No one was injured and no one has yet been arrested. The police reckon there are several suspects.
Police are conducting further investigations at the scene today. Among other things, neighbourhood searches are being conducted, forensic investigation is in place and CCTV footage is being requested and reviewed. The police are committed to locating both the suspects and the stolen masterpieces. In doing so, the investigation team has also decided to involve Interpol. That is an international organisation that helps police organisations prevent and fight crime. For more information on the investigation, please visit the police website. Here you can read, among other things, how to contact the police to pass on a tip or share camera images.
(Excerpt) Read more at drentsmuseum.nl ...
Coțofenești helmet, 450 BCE, National History Museum of Romania.Photo: Ing. Marius Amarie
The other GGG topics added since the previous digest ping, alpha:
Is there a market for stolen museum pieces?
Why would anyone purchase something they could never admit they possessed?
Maybe the thieves will hold the items for ransom.
Or maybe the items will end up in the hush-hush collection of some Saudi prince.
Such things are probably never done speculatively, but by very skilled thieves hired by very wealthy collectors with, in effect, private museums.
[The story of the missing James Bond vehicle]
Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand. They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves. Even when they enter deep into our world or sink below us, they still think that they are better than we are. They are different.- F. Scott Fitzgerald
Makes sense. Thanks.
Anybody seen Carmen Sandiego?
There is a market for gold... The pieces have likely been melted down. Helmet? What helmet?
LOL
My pleasure.
[Archaeological masterpieces]
OH MY GOSH!!!
The Hunter Biden collection?
It got pinched because those eyes are just hypnotic!
Bracelets...just to accessorize!
Why have something like this when you can’t share it. So you can fondle it in private?
Is there a market for stolen museum pieces?
—
A huge market and a very lucrative one for the thieves and the recipient, if he sells it privately.
Wasn’t someone wearing something like that in the Capitol on January 6th?
Sorry, I'm distracted by this, uh, never mind. ;^)
The new "owner" has something no one else has, and can appreciate in private. Probably runs in a small circle of similar people, and they're always trying to show off their latest to each other.
Hey, it beats that plastic white mask and black cape.
That would violate The Geneva Convention
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