As you may know, I often find inspiration in the rich history of ancient civilizations—especially that of my native Romania. So it was heartbreaking to hear that several Dacian artifacts personally meaningful to me had recently been stolen from a museum.
I learned about the golden Helmet of Coțofenești and the Dacian spiral bracelets in elementary school, and I’ve long been fascinated by them. They influenced my description of two key objects in my novel The Exiled Queen: the Helmet of the Kin, worn by Queen Andrada at her anointment ceremony, and a bracelet that belongs to Princess Meda.
During a visit to Romania with my family in 2018, I had a chance to see these artifacts up close at the National History Museum in Bucharest. Below are a couple of photos I took that day.
The helmet was crafted from a natural gold-silver-copper alloy, and it dates from between 450 and 400 BCE. Its name comes from the Romanian village where it was found in 1926.
The Smithsonian tells this story about its discovery:
“The helmet was unearthed by children in the 1920s after a heavy rain washed away part of a hillside in central Romania’s Prahova region. After playing with it for a while, the children took it home, where the family used it as a water bowl for farm animals, according to the Drents Museum.”
The bracelets are made of gold or silver and usually feature snake heads, giving the impression of a coiled serpent around the wearer’s forearm.
In early 2025, the helmet and three gold bracelets—valued at 6 million euros—were on display at the Drents Museum in Assen, Netherlands, as part of the exhibition Dacia: Empire of Gold and Silver, on loan from the National History Museum in Bucharest. The heist took place on January 25, at around 3:45 a.m. local time, when three masked thieves used explosives to break in and steal the artifacts.
Nothing else was taken. That’s why authorities suspect Romanian organized crime, possibly using the stolen items as a bargaining chip for reduced prison sentences. That could mean that the artifacts have not yet been melted down for gold. Seven people have been arrested, but the helmet remains missing, with no leads.
Despite their estimated price tag, these stolen items are, to me, priceless and irreplaceable—not only as museum pieces but as a connection to Romania’s distant past. I wove them into my story because they’re part of the Dacian mythology I used as inspiration for my Dhawosian kingdoms in The Exiled Queen. Now these artifacts are gone. If they’re ever recovered, it will be a rare win in the history of art theft.
I don’t want to end on a somber note, so I’ll leave you with a resource I turn to often for good news (because I need good news now more than ever). It’s a newsletter called Fix the News, and it focuses on global progress—the opposite of “if it bleeds, it leads.” The newsletter arrives every couple of weeks, and it highlights hopeful developments in health, climate, science, human rights, and social innovation—stories that often get overlooked by mainstream media. If you’re looking for a break from bleak headlines, this might be a good place to start. Let me know what you think!
