Thieves steal 2,500-year-old gold necklace from French museum

Thieves stole a 2,500-year-old gold necklace from a museum in eastern France on Friday, prosecutors said.

Dijon prosecutor Olivier Caracotch said the thieves smashed the display glass protecting the Celtic-era jewellery at the Chatillon-sur-Seine museum in Burgundy.

Local mayor Jeremie Brigand said the museum had already faced two recent attempted burglaries before Friday morning's theft. He said the museum had tightened security after those attempts, but the thieves were organised, fast and determined enough to carry out the theft.

Brigand said the thieves acted in broad daylight despite the presence of visitors, staff and security personnel. He said no one was hurt.

The stolen gold necklace weighs about half a kilogramme, or around one pound. It served as both an ornament and a symbol of power among the Celts and Gauls. It was part of the Vix treasure collection held by the museum, a burial hoard of a princess discovered in 1953 in the nearby village of Vix.

The theft comes in the same week that the Louvre in Paris reopened the Apollo Gallery, which was targeted by thieves last October. Those thieves stole eight items valued at about $100 million.