3D-printed version of the stolen helmet of Cotofenesti is a carnival hit through the North Holland party shop

The investigation services that are still looking for the helmet of Cotofenesti, stolen from the Drents Museum, will probably get even more difficult in their search in the coming month. There are replicas of the Romanian archaeological head lid.

A party shop in Beverwijk is responsible for this: Greet Kresst offers his own Cotofenesti helmet and with that owners Astrid and Servee de Jong have a hit. Shortly after De Jong couple placed the playful costumes on the website – « Ladies and Gentlemen, We've Got Him!  » -It went loose at the party shop in the North Holland city.

In an ultra -short telephone conversation, Greet wants to explain what has happened since then. « I still have not answered all the requests, » she says, Thursday morning, just before opening time. Normally, only North Hollanders come to Greet, which says he offers an « idiot large assortment of clothing and accessories ». But now Astrid receives buy requests from all over the Netherlands.

Every year the De Jong couple tries to come up with an original carnival item. « This seemed like a suitable choice. The helmet was so much in the news.  » At the end of January the Romanian masterpiece from the Drents Museum was stolen. The suspects come from Heerhugowaard, just north of Beverwijk.

16 hours by helmet

A cardboard version of the golden helmet was originally the plan, says Astrid. But that turned out to be too short a day to arrange. Then last week there was suddenly 'an artist' at the counter – according to Astrid he would rather remain anonymous. The mysterious man had a 3D-printed plastic copy with him, which turned out to be little distinguishable from the original.

The production time is about sixteen hours per helmet, which can be seen in the price tag: 80 euros each. « Not nothing indeed, it's an expensive machine, » says Astrid. In her own words, she doesn't earn a cent. And the value is still considerably less than the original, which is estimated at millions of euros.

In the meantime, all available copies – on Wednesday she had twenty – are sold out. According to Astrid, with the carnival weekend approaching, especially visitors from Brabant and Limburg are interested. But there is also interest above the rivers. « For example, to turn it into a lamp, » she says. Some of the buyers will probably only get the helmet after carnival, Astrid warns. « I haven't read all the emails yet. »

The last 48 hours have also been an emergency course for Astrid. « I really have to continue, » she says after five minutes. « The store opens like this. » This weekend there is room for relaxation. The born Bergeijker goes to Oeteldonk, Den Bosch. Fortunately she was able to arrange freely. And no, she apps later, she doesn't put on the helmet herself.

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