A pair of rare 18th century slippers from India, decorated with diamonds, rubies, and emeralds, and sewn with gold thread, were stolen from a Toronto museum on Sunday.

　　The slippers are worth about C$160,000 (78,000 pounds) and were once worn by royalty. They went missing while the Bata Shoe Museum was open to visitors, Toronto police said on Monday.

　　No alarms were set off and preliminary investigations have so far turned up little.

　　The theft may have been a prank or targeted deliberately for sale to a collector, police said. They said the shoes would be worth little to the general public because the gems were uncut and unpolished.

　　The flamboyant slippers might also have dubious fashion value today.