A Museum Robbery

It was,Italian authorities said later, as if thieves had a catalog and knew just what they were after. Armed bandits bound and gagged six unarmed guards,entered a storeroom containing artifacts from the Roman town of Herculaneum, and stole about 280 objects-gold rings,bracelets,earrings,and precious stones. All had been discovered during excavations of the seaside town,buried by the same eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79 that destroyed its largerand better-known neighbor,Pompeii.Authorities said that the stolen items also included a small bronze statue of Bacchus inlaid with copper and silver, a bronze vase,and a box of coins.The total value of objects taken during the robbery was estimated at 1.6 million dollars. Art historians and others criticized lax security that permitted two gunmen to climb a wall,enter the site,and break through a flimsy partition to get into the room where the artifacts were kept. Some of critics also complained that the guards were unarmed. Officials said it would be hard for anyone to sell the stolen objects because all had been catalogued and photographed,and most had been exhibited and published.