2,500-year-old gold helmet recovered a year after it was stolen from a Dutch museum

Dutch authorities on Thursday displayed a 2,500-year-old gold helmet from Romania that was stolen last year during brazen heist in the Netherlands.

Flanked by balaclava-clad police, a spokesman for Dutch prosecutors revealed the 5th century BC Cotofenesti gold helmet and two of the three gold bracelets stolen in January 2025.

Dutch police officer Corien Fahner said: “The Cotofenesti helmet and two Dacian gold bracelets have been recovered and we are happy to announce this.”

The search for the third bracelet is ongoing, Fahner said.

The theft had sparked outrage in Romania and prompted a police manhunt.

A group of criminals used explosives to break into the Drents Museum in the north of the Netherlands in January 2025, smashing the exhibits inside.

Three men were tried for theft but remained silent in court.

Museum director Robert van Langh told reporters that there was minor damage to the hat, “which is very difficult to see.”

The helmet “can be completely restored to its original condition,” said van Langh, who added that the two bracelets were “in good condition.”

Under intense pressure from Romania, the Dutch authorities made several attempts to convince the suspects to tell them where the treasures were hidden.

The police promised to reduce one suspect’s sentence by half if he revealed the location of the hat.

An undercover police officer posing as a criminal mastermind reportedly offered another suspect 400,000 euros ($420,000) to tell him where the loot was hidden.

The police also offered a reward of 100,000 euros for information leading to the recovery of the helmet.

“People are hurt”

Thefts and searches for Dacian artefacts have been rampant in the Netherlands and regularly make headlines.

“This is a dark day,” said Harry Tupan, general director of the Drents Museum, at the time. “In 170 years of existence, there has never been such a big incident.”

After the theft, Romanian prime minister at the time Marcel Ciolacu expressed his anger that “things of great value” had been stolen and was considering seeking “unprecedented damages”.

“You don’t know the impact of this on Romanian society,” Romanian cultural journalist Claudia Marcu, who has lived in the Netherlands since 2003, told broadcaster NOS.

“When I heard about the theft I thought: for the Dutch this will be like (Rembrandt’s) ‘Night Watch’ being stolen. People are devastated.”

The Dutch government has set aside 5.7 million euros ($6.5 million) for possible compensation following illegal theft.

The pieces were on loan from a museum in Bucharest, whose head was immediately fired for borrowing the works in the first place.

Dutch museums and galleries have been targeted by thieves in the past — including in November when works by artist Andy Warhol were taken, and a Van Gogh was stolen from a museum in 2020.

The heists have prompted calls for better security to protect important works of art.

Romanian Foreign Minister Oana Toiu described the findings as “extraordinary news.”

“It is very important not to give up when something is so important for many generations,” said the minister.

“Indiana Jones of the Art World”

Dutch art investigator Arthur Brand confirmed this to AFP in the early hours of Thursday.

“It’s amazing. It’s the best news we could have,” Brand said.

Brand said he and the police have been working to communicate with them to persuade criminals to hand over their helmets in exchange for a lighter sentence.

“We were sure it hadn’t melted yet because there were only four days between the robbery and the arrest,” said Brand. “It’s a good job by the Dutch police.”

Brand, named “Indiana Jones of the Art World”he has made headlines around the world for his recovery of high-quality stolen pieces of art.

In July 2025, he recovered a a bunch of stolen documents from the 15th to the 19th century, including several UNESCO-listed archives from the world’s first international organization.

A few months before that, Brand helped the Dutch police crack a case on this mystery the disappearance of the Brueghel painting from a Polish museum more than 50 years ago.

Other product achievements include Vincent van Gogh returns painting in the museum in 2023, more than three years after it was stolen.

In 2022, he returned a Roman statue that had been stolen from the Musee du Pays Chatillonnais in 1973. He also found Salvador Dali’s “Little Youth,” a Picasso painting and “Hitler’s Chariots,” sculptures that once stood outside the Nazi leader’s chancellery in Berlin.

In 2017, an art investigator told CBS News that make deals and terrorist groups, the mafia and a host of shady characters to track down the pieces on the black market.

On one side you have the police, insurance companies, collectors, and on the other side you have criminals, art thieves and fraudsters,” said Brand. So there are two different worlds, and they don’t connect. So I include them.”