A worldwide search is on for a 3,000-year-old bracelet belonging to a pharaoh that went lacking from a prime museum in Cairo, Egypt.
The valuable gold band, that includes spherical lapis lazuli beads, dates again to the reign of King Amenemope, an historic Egyptian pharaoh who dominated from 993 to 984 BC, in line with the Egyptian Antiquities Ministry.
The case has been referred to the police, the ministry mentioned in an announcement posted on Fb.
The ministry mentioned the bracelet went lacking from the restoration laboratory on the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir.
A picture of the lacking bracelet has additionally been circulated to antiquities models throughout all Egyptian airports, seaports and land border crossings to scale back the chance of smuggling makes an attempt, the assertion mentioned.
The bead on the bracelet is thought for its deep blue color and gold speckling.
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Lapis lazuli is likely one of the most prized semi-precious stones and was extremely wanted in historic Egypt primarily due to its affiliation with the gods.
Based on Rocks and Gems Canada, some imagine that Cleopatra used crushed lapis as eye shadow.
The museum advised NBC Information in an announcement that the bracelet was a part of a set of artifacts able to be despatched to Italy for an exhibit titled “Treasures of the Pharaohs” at a museum in Rome in October.
The ministry mentioned it had intentionally postponed saying the bracelet’s disappearance in order to not undermine the integrity of the investigation, and {that a} specialised committee has been fashioned to stock and assessment all artifacts saved within the restoration laboratory.
Amenemope’s burial is one in every of solely three wholly intact royal burials from historic Egypt. He was laid to relaxation with a number of gadgets of worth, together with a golden funeral masks handcrafted to immortalize his options.
His tomb was found in 1940 by French Egyptologists Pierre Montet and Georges Goyon, however its excavation was delayed as a result of outbreak of the Second World Struggle. Excavations resumed in 1946, and Montet revealed his monumental findings in 1958, in line with the museum.
Egypt is but to resolve the disappearance of a Vincent van Gogh portray price about US$55 million.
It was stolen from the Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum in Cairo in 1977. The art work was recovered two years later, solely to be stolen once more in 2010. It has not but been discovered.
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