Massive Canadian gold coin worth millions stolen from German museum

Since that was thread number 4 or 5 about the very same subject, I locked that one too, again along with an explanation and a link to this topic.

Agreed. When I was in Berlin in February (World Money Fair), I did not go to the Bode Museum, but I will go in May. Check out post #35 here for the museum website, and #39 for the link to its online catalog. They already have lots of photos in that catalog ...

Christian

 

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If that coin shows up in the Rhineland, I am going to get a bit nervous for our mod here.

 

Wow, this is absolutely fabulous! So much for going to bed early tonight....LOL

 

Wish it would show up here - after all, the owner and I live in the same city. I hope he gets his piece back (quite unlikely unfortunately) or the insurance pays. No matter how he initially made his money (do a web search for Fuchsmann and Lauder), it was generous of him to exhibit the coin in Berlin. If that theft resulted in fewer permanent loans, Bode Museum or elsewhere, that would be very sad ...

Christian

 

"No officer, I have not seen any oversized gold coin..."

 

Hehehe. Technical side note: Instead of the image, I see the generic placeholder in your post. But vee have vays of extracting the URL, so clicking this link should work ...

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170404/f22e74cffbdc34beccd2851f329f4836.jpg

Christian

 

New veels for zie Beemer Christian?

 

Beemer, moi? A car is a device that takes you from A to B. For me it does not have to be really fast, nor do I need to have all the latest gimmicks. But dare not touch my new bicycle!!

By the way, does anybody here need an almost new wheelbarrow, with minor gold traces, used only one time? I have read several jokes like that in the past few days. Not that people appreciate theft, but there is always this "hey, how did they manage to do that?" aspect. No ultra-rare or unique ancient object was stolen, the museum had an insurance, and nobody was injured or killed. This is almost heist movie material ...

Christian

 

Christian made a excellent point, no one was injured/killed in the heist, second the coin stolen even if melted down is no loss. They can make another at the Canadian Mint. Had they made off with a tray of Ancient Roman aurei, these one cannot replace. As for me, I would get this car....1967 Corvette 427-435HP

 

Insurance fraud.

 

So what's the latest word from the museum, the police, or the owner?

 

There is no "new" news about this. Several of the tools used have been found, but the gold is obviously still missing, and the "coin" has most probably been taken apart, maybe melted, by now.

Christian

 

Still no "news" except that the police released a video, compiled from various surveillance camera scenes, that shows three people who may have been the thieves. The press release (in German) is here: http://www.berlin.de/polizei/polizeimeldungen/pressemitteilung.576537.php
Not sure why this got published now. I find it hard to imagine that it took three months to view and check the raw material ...

Christian

 

It may have taken them three months to shrug and give up.

As a criminal mastermind with no police record I would have recruited an alarm man with no record and a strong man with no record, just for this one job, and they would have to agree to share the spoils by way of an annuity, so that over a period of years they would get a large sum of money, but there would be little chance of them splurging the lot in an attention getting manner, and regular payments from a respectable insurance/annuity company would not set off any alarms with banks.
This would be quite hard to detect as there would be no usual suspects to round up, and gang members (temporary grade) wise enough to accept the method of payment and the reasons for it would probably be smart enough not to go telling the story in a local bar. Most routine criminal detection is by information received from police informants, not by Sherlock Holmes like detection of tiny clues.

 

OK, since this thread has been resurrected, I'll offer one more comment.

Perhaps the gold coin never left the property. The thief might have just dropped it from the roof into the moat that surrounds the Bode. I wonder if the police ever checked the moat with a metal detector......

SCUBA SCUBA SCUBA.

 

The "Mission Impossible" theme started playing in my head.

 

I would love to get in there with a medal detector. Imagine all of the old crap you would find! I doubt that has been dredged for centuries. Of course I'd probably drown or be blown up by a rusted up leftover shell from some war, at least the fish would eat well.

 

The idea is tempting, yes. But keep in mind that in Berlin - in fact, most of Europe - you would get into trouble if you did that.

News update regarding the theft, in English:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40579867

More details in various German language articles, e.g. here:
http://www.sueddeutsche.de/panorama...-kostbare-goldmuenze-verkauft-haben-1.3584016
http://www.rp-online.de/panorama/de...onen-muenze-bleibt-verschwunden-aid-1.6945693

Apparently some criminal "clan" with an Arabic, maybe Lebanese, background is involved in this. Among the suspects is a man who temporarily worked at the Bode Museum, and a jeweler who may have "processed" the beast.

Christian

 

https://ottawacitizen.com/pmn/news-...seum/wcm/6ab64d50-41d2-4f92-98e0-d51a9ee169c4

"Prosecutors believe that the suspects cut up the coin and sold the pieces"... @panzerman, ye busy?

 

If only they had submitted it for grading they could have just asked dealers to be on the lookout for a slab with that serial number.