Ancient Pharaoh’s 3,000-Year-Old Gold Bracelet Goes Missing From Cairo Museum

A nationwide search is underway in Egypt after a 3,000-year-old gold bracelet, once belonging to a pharaoh, vanished from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, according to a report by CNN. The artefact, adorned with a lapis lazuli bead, was last seen in the museum’s restoration laboratory located in Tahrir Square.

According to Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the bracelet went missing during restoration work. The case has since been handed over to law enforcement and the public prosecution for investigation.

In response to the disappearance, Egyptian authorities have circulated images of the missing bracelet across all airports, seaports, and land border crossings. A statement shared on Facebook noted that this measure was taken “as a precautionary

step to prevent smuggling attempts.”

However, the museum’s director general has clarified that some images currently being shared online are not of the missing artefact but of a different bracelet that remains on display at the museum.

According to CNN, the bracelet belonged to King Amenemope, a ruler from the Third Intermediate Period. Described on the museum’s website as “a little-known but intriguing sovereign of Egypt’s 21st Dynasty,” Amenemope was initially buried in a modest single-chamber tomb, NRT IV, within the royal necropolis at Tanis in the eastern Nile Delta. His body was later reinterred beside Psusennes I, one of the most powerful pharaohs of the era. The tomb was rediscovered in 1940.

In light of the incident, the ministry has announced that all other artefacts housed in the restoration laboratory will undergo a full inventory and review, to be carried out by a specialist committee.

Christos Tsirogiannis, a forensic archaeologist at Cambridge University, expressed little surprise over the disappearance. He noted the robust global demand for antiquities and speculated that the bracelet may have either been stolen for resale, potentially appearing online, in a dealer’s gallery, or at an auction house, or the gold might have already been melted down for other purposes.

The illicit trade in ancient Egyptian artifacts remains a persistent challenge for the country, which continues to combat theft and trafficking of its cultural heritage.