HELENA — A rare artifact that disappeared from the Montana Historical Society Museum in 2003 has been recovered.
Sgt. Jayson Zander with the Helena Police Department says the Sioux pipe bag was recovered after the chief of security for the museum found it listed on a collector website last year.
Zander tells the Independent Record that the artifact had been sold in Wyoming to a collector in Texas in 2009.
Zander says an auction house involved had no idea it was stolen. The bag had sold for $1,900.
Last week, the pipe bag was returned to the museum in Helena.
Museum officials say the original theft of the bag, its travels and trail of ownership are still under investigation.
Zander says a suspect in the case died in 2005.