A priceless 3,000-year-old gold bracelet from Egypt’s 21st Dynasty has been stolen, melted down, and sold for just US$4,000, Egyptian authorities confirmed Thursday. The artefact, adorned with lapis lazuli and linked to Pharaoh Amenemope, vanished from a secure metal safe in the Egyptian Museum’s conservation lab shortly before it was set for international exhibition in Italy. Police arrested a museum employee and three accomplices in connection with the theft. The interior ministry described the loss as a devastating blow to Egypt’s cultural heritage, as the historically significant bracelet is now irreversibly destroyed and lost to history.
