[MSN] An 18th-century Japanese ivory toggle which had been stolen from a museum in Birmingham has been returned after an art expert spotted it in an auction catalogue in Germany.

[MSN]

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - An 18th-century Japanese ivory toggle which had been stolen from a museum in Birmingham has been returned after an art expert spotted it in an auction catalogue in Germany.

The toggle, a Japanese "netsuke" used to fasten a box to the belt of a kimono, portrays a human body with the head of a fox, media reported. It is valued at around 28,000 pounds ($55,640).

Ulli Seegers, an art expert working for the Art Loss Register in Cologne, found the toggle in a catalogue in late 2005 and alerted police, Kyodo news agency said. It didn't say where the toggle was eventually found.

Known as "The Magic Fox", the toggle was one of 20 netsuke that were stolen from museums in the UK in 1999 and is believed to be the first to be returned to its former home, the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

Thieves broke the locks of the glass cases where the netsukes were kept and snatched the items, Kyodo said, citing museum officials.

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