Massive Canadian gold coin worth millions stolen from German museum

Back in the late 1970s there was a huge gold exhibit in the old San Francisco mint, it was amazing - the bars, the coins, the pioneer gold etc. Insurance got too high and the stuff was removed by the early 1980s.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Even making the news in Russia:

https://news.mail.ru/incident/29217652/?frommail=10

 

The Germany description was about the size of a tire.

 

XRF scanner. X-Ray flourescence reflected from the object and measured.

There is no such thing as 9999.99 fine. If anything they mean 999999 fine.

 

This article has a picture with people hand's on the gigantic coin (or one exactly like it though in Canada).
Looks like it ain't gonna fit in a backpack unless you fold it. :/

==> http://www.marketwatch.com/story/a-...an-museum-2017-03-27?mod=MW_story_latest_news

Where these minted by the Canadian Mint? Publicly available?

 

Beyond baffling how an item of this value gets stolen. Whoever is in charge of security needs to go to jail, even if they weren't involved in the heist. Something like this should never be stolen.

 

The strangest of all is that there has never been so much police in Berlin as now... Germany is on high anti-terrorist alert!!!???

 

The thieves did not have beards and swarthy faces, so passed un-noticed.

 

I think the phrase you may be looking for is "go right through" a backpack. And hope it doesn't land on your foot!

It's terrible that the thieves will likely cut this up and melt it down. That's one less example of the coin that I'll ever have a chance to own, making it that much harder to complete the series.

 

No. Of course there is a latent risk, in all of Europe. But that does not mean you have police officers at any place and any time.

Oh, and yes, that "coin" was minted by the Royal Canadian Mint. And yes, according to the RBB report (video in German, post #2) the museum's insurance apparently covers this.

Christian

 

Thanks for the note!
And my best wishes for all!!

 

Canada made 5 of them, kitco has one for sale right now

 

Who the heck leaves a coin of this value lying around in a "cabinet" wouldnt you think a vault would be the smarter choice..j/s

 

You call it a "cabinet" - the museum calls it "one of the most significant collections of coins and medals in the world".

Christian

 

A gold plated replica would have been a smarter choice.

Or something that would have been worthy of a place in a museum, not a large chunk of what is essentially scrap metal when the mere cost of the insurance could have funded some worth while exhibits.

If it was insured for 5 million at 2%, that was an annual cost of 100,000 that could have funded a fine display of Greek and Roman silver and gold that would have been far more impressive, interesting and worthwhile.

 

Excellent post and I totally agree. But the average man in the street couldn't care less about an old Roman coin. But a 100kg chunk of gold, well .... let's just say that most people have their value system all wrong.

 

Hmm, have you guys ever been to the museum and its numismatic collection? Or have you at least had a look at the "museum" link above? The online catalog is here by the way: http://ww2.smb.museum/ikmk/

Christian

 

Finally we can stop worrying about it. It never happened. Well, that is according to those among us who think RT is fake news,

https://www.rt.com/viral/382461-berlin-giant-coin-theft/

 

The only hope we have of it Not getting melted down is if

1) It was an outsourced heist paid for by a very rich clandestine coin collector who will squirrel it away in his very private collection for decades

Or

2) The thieves are caught very quickly

Barring theses two possibilities. Its hitting the melting pot and possibly a little copper may be added to reduce the purity