TOURIST STOLE ARTEFECT TO BUY AN iPHONE

The wall in the house of the Menander in Pompeii. Picture Bill Watt Source: Supplied

IN THE latest act of dumb tourist moves, a teenager from the Netherlands was caught stealing a priceless artefact from the ancient city of Pompeii.

According to Italian news site Il Mattino, translated via The Local, an American tourist
witnessed the 16-year-old placing a Roman roof tile in his backpack and attempting to smuggle it out of the site
currently under renovations.

Police on the scene stopped the teenager before he was able to leave with the item.
He reportedly later said he wanted to sell the tile on eBay to buy the latest iPhone, but experts say he would have been disappointed by the resale value.

“A simple terracotta tile actually has a very low value, we don’t even trade them,” Roman artefacts dealer Carole Elena told The Local.

The ruins. Source: Supplied

“Being a tile from Pompeii, its provenance might have given it some extra value, but I’d say it’s worth a maximum of €400 (about $600) ... but obviously items like this are priceless in terms of their historical value.”

Though the tile was given back to Pompeii staff, neither the teenager or the American tourist who caught him trying to take the item could remember the original location of the piece so it may take some time before it’s properly restored.

This story originally appeared on Fox News.