Nepal, Sept. 6 -- In the sanctum sanctorum of the Taleju Temple dedicated to the matron deity of the Malla kings in Kathmandu was a jewel-studded necklace. In 1970, during the height of the Panchayat regime, it was moved to the nearby Hanuman Dhoka Museum for safekeeping.

Since the Royal Nepali Army guarded the museum, it was thought the necklace and other sacred treasures would be safer there. They were not. In 1976, the necklace was stolen.

It surfaced nearly 45 years later at the Art Institute of Chicago in June 2021, where it was spotted by a Nepali professor, Sweta Gyanu Baniya, who knelt in emotional supplication before it. She posted the discovery on social media and wrote about it in a Virginia Tech journal.

The gilt-silver ne...