Fifteen Chinese artifacts, most of them jewelry including hairpins, earrings and fingernail guards dating from between 700 to 1400, were found to have been stolen from the British Museum in London last Saturday.

They were possibly taken Friday evening, a spokesperson for the museum told Xinhua in a telephone interview. She gave no estimate of how much the stolen treasures are worth.

"We don't put financial values on our pieces, but these are obviously historically important items," she said.

She added that police suspect the case may be linked to the theft of nine Chinese items worth about 60,000 pounds (about US$108,000) from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London last month.

On October 4, thieves smashed a cabinet there and stole three small cups, two miniature animal figures, a bowl, two small ornamental plaques and a small ritual cylinder.

Founded in 1753, the British Museum houses one of the world's greatest collections of antiquities and artifacts, totaling around seven million items.

The four kilometers of galleries and corridors in the museum are patrolled daily by a security force and feature a sophisticated alarm system.

(Xinhua News Agency November 2, 2004)