Stolen 2,500-year-old golden helmet has been found, art sleuth says

A priceless gold 2,500-year-old helmet from Romania that was stolen last year in the Netherlands has been recovered, Dutch art detective Arthur Brand told AFP on Thursday.

"It's amazing. It's the best news we could have got," said Brand, confirming that the lost Helmet of Cotofenesti had been found.

Prosecutors are expected to make an official announcement later on Thursday.

A gang of robbers used firework bombs to break into the Drents Museum in the northern Netherlands in January 2025, and smashed display cases once inside.

They made off with the 5th-century BC golden Helmet of Cotofenesti and three gold bracelets.

The theft and the search for the booty regularly makes headline news in the Netherlands and sparked outrage in Romania, where the items are considered national treasures.

"This is a dark day," Harry Tupan, general director of the Drents Museum, said at the time. "In its 170-year existence, there has never been such a major incident."

The Dutch government had set aside 5.7 million euros ($6.5 million) for a likely payout following the brazen theft.

"Indiana Jones of the Art World"

Brand, nicknamed the "Indiana Jones of the Art World", has made headlines around the globe for his high-profile recoveries of stolen pieces of art.

In July 2025, he recovered a priceless trove of stolen documents from the 15th to the 19th century, including several UNESCO-listed archives from the world's first multinational corporation.

A few months before that, Brand helped Dutch police crack the case of the mysterious disappearance of a Brueghel painting from a Polish museum over 50 years ago. 

Brand's other accomplishments include returning a Vincent van Gogh painting to a museum in 2023, more than three years after it was stolen.

In 2022, he returned a Roman statue that had been stolen from Musee du Pays Chatillonnais in 1973. He also recovered Salvador Dali's "Adolescence," a Picasso painting and "Hitler's Horses," sculptures that once stood outside the Nazi leader's Berlin chancellery.

In 2017, the art detective told CBS News that he's brokered deals with terrorist groups, the mafia and a slew of shady characters in order to track down pieces on the black market.

"On one hand you have the police, insurance companies, collectors, and on the other hand you have the criminals, the art thieves and the forgers," Brand said. "So there are two different kind of worlds, and they do not communicate. So I put myself in the middle."