King Croesus' treasure stolen in Turkey

ANKARA, Turkey --Two pieces from the treasure of King Croesus that were returned to Turkey from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York after a long legal battle have been stolen and replaced with fakes, the culture and tourism minister said Sunday.

Croesus' golden broach in the shape of a sea horse and a coin were switched with replicas at the Usak Museum in western Turkey, said the minister Atilla Koc, confirming a newspaper report on Sunday. "Unfortunately the incident is true," Koc said.

Croesus, the 6th century B.C. king of the Lydians, was the richest man of his time in what is now western Turkey. Ever since, his name has been synonymous with great wealth.

The broach was one of 363 artifacts from the so-called "Lydian Hoard" that was purchased by the Metropolitan Museum in the 1960s. Some 30 years later, the museum acknowledged that it knew the pieces were stolen when it purchased them, and returned them to Turkey.