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Monday, 12th November 2007 (4021 views)

A gold pocketwatch originally crafted for Marie Antoinette has been recovered some 24 years after it had been stolen from the LA Meyer Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem, according to the Independent.

The pocketwatch - which is made of gold and rock-crystals - was stolen in addition to 39 other rare timepieces, including a gold carriage clock designed by Abraham Louis Breguet.

The valuable items were part of a 100-piece collection which once belonged to Sir David Lionel Salomons, the first Jewish lord mayor of London.

They were donated to the Jerusalem museum by Sir David's daughter and were stolen by burglars who took advantage of a sleeping museum guard to break in and steal a portion of the collection.

A quarter of a century later, a Tel Aviv-based lawyer called a watchmaker to appraise a number of clocks and watches, which were then identified as the missing pieces from the museum.

According to the Independent, the items are set to go back on display at the museum in the new year.

 

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