After 21 years tucked away inside a Rotterdam flat, a priceless 18th century crown is finally being repatriated to Ethiopia with the help of a Dutch art detective.

For more than two decades, the crown has been guarded by Dutch-Ethiopian national Sirak Asfaw in a secret location in his Netherlands home.

A former refugee, Sirak fled Ethiopia during the “Red Terror” purges in the 1970s. Over the ensuing years, he hosted Ethiopian pilots, diplomats and refugees as they passed through the city. He unexpectedly became the guardian of the crown in April 1998, after one of his guests left behind a suitcase.

Sirak said he "looked into the suitcase and saw something really amazing and I thought ‘this is not right. This has been stolen. This should not be here. This belongs to Ethiopia’".

Sirak refused to let the unnamed suitcase owner regain possession and instead hid it from the regime that had allowed it to be stolen in the first place. “I knew if I gave it back, it would just disappear again”, he told AFP.

One of Ethiopia’s most important religious artefacts, the crown is one of only 20 created and is one of the most valuable of those. Made of gilded copper, it features images of the Holy Trinity and Christ’s disciples.

Jacopo Gnisci, a research associate at Oxford University who confirmed the object’s authenticity, told AFP he believes the crown was given to the church by a powerful Ethiopian warlord, "ras" Welde Sellase. Although it bears an inscription dating to 1633-34, it was more likely made a century later. Gnisci said it is “of priceless symbolic value”.  

Sirak initially sought advice about what to do with the crown from fellow Ethiopians in an online forum, without revealing the specifics of his discovery. What followed was 21 years of pressure from his compatriots, who suspected what he possessed, and nightmares about the well-connected thieves who had smuggled it into Europe to begin with.

His guardianship finally concluded last year when Sirak contacted Arthur Brand, a Dutch art detective often described as the "Indiana Jones of the art world", for support. He felt that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed taking office in Ethiopia signalled sufficient changes in the country and it was time for the crown to go home.

When asked by the Telegraph if the missing crown was on his radar prior to Sirak’s call, Brand said it was not and that he had been surprised to hear about it. He said Sirak felt intimidated and had not realised it would take 21 years to return.

The pair were keen to return it soon, to reduce the chance of it being used as “political marketing” ahead of a general election next year, he said. The crown is now at a secure location in the Netherlands before being returned to Ethiopian authorities. 

Brand said Sirak had told him that "this is Ethiopian cultural heritage" and "it feels good to give it back." He hopes it can be a "symbol" for a new Ethiopia.