Egypt’s Interior Ministry has revealed that a 3,000-year-old gold bracelet, stolen from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo earlier this month, was melted down by a goldsmith after being passed through several hands. The artefact, dating back to the reign of Pharaoh Amenemope around 1,000 BC, was considered a rare treasure of ancient Egypt.
According to the ministry, a restoration specialist at the museum removed the bracelet from a secure safe nine days ago. The woman then contacted a silver jeweller she knew, who subsequently sold the bracelet to a gold dealer for $3,735. The dealer later sold it to a gold foundry worker for $4,025, who melted it along with other pieces of jewellery.
Authorities confirmed that all four individuals involved—the restoration specialist, the silver jeweller, the gold dealer, and the foundry worker—were arrested. Each of them confessed to their role in the crime, and the money from the transactions was seized. The Interior Ministry added that legal proceedings are now underway against the suspects.
The disappearance of the artefact was first detected by staff at the Egyptian Museum when preparations were being made to transfer dozens of artefacts to Rome for an upcoming exhibition. Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said it immediately referred the case to police after the bracelet was discovered missing from the museum’s restoration laboratory.
In a bid to prevent smuggling, an image of the bracelet—described as a golden band decorated with spherical lapis lazuli beads—was circulated to airports, seaports, and land border crossings across Egypt. However, the rapid sale and melting down of the piece made recovery impossible.
The Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the oldest archaeological museum in the Middle East, houses more than 170,000 artefacts, including Amenemope’s gilded funerary mask. The theft is a blow to Egypt’s efforts to protect its ancient treasures, especially as the country prepares to inaugurate the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza.
The new museum, set to showcase the legendary treasures of Tutankhamun’s tomb, is expected to become one of the most significant cultural landmarks in the world. The loss of the Amenemope bracelet underscores the challenges Egyptian authorities face in safeguarding priceless heritage amid increasing international demand for antiquities.
Officials emphasized that despite the irretrievable loss of the bracelet, heightened security and monitoring protocols are being reinforced across Egypt’s museums and archaeological sites to prevent similar incidents in the future.