Massive Canadian gold coin worth millions stolen from German museum

BERLIN (AP) — Berlin police say thieves broke into the German capital's Bode Museum and made off with a massive 100-kilogram (221-pound) gold coin worth millions.

Spokesman Stefen Petersen said thieves apparently entered through a window about 3:30 a.m. Monday, broke into a cabinet where the "Big Maple Leaf" coin was kept, and escaped with it before police arrived.

A ladder was found by nearby railway tracks.

The museum says the coin is in the Guinness Book of Records for its purity of 999.99/1000 gold. It has a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on one side and maple leaves on the other.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/Massive-gold-coin-worth-millions-stolen-from-11029970.php

Never steal anything small.

 

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You beat me to it.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.rb...bstahl-im-bode-museum-berlin.htm/alt=amp.html

Sounds like an inside job.

 

...just saying...

 

So do we need to get an alibi from @chrisild

 

... and they went right to the local 7-11 and bought a few pints of Ale with it ...
lol

 

In this case it may not be recovered, since something like that would have to be melted down.

 

Ha, I was sound asleep, according to myself and an admittedly biased witness. Wait ... didn't @Seattlite86 recently move here?

Yes, may have been an insider job. Obviously the people who stole the coin knew about the circumstances - the construction, and the fact that the S-Bahn on the nearby tracks does not operate between 1.30 and 4.00 am. Seems that no other objects were stolen.

Christian

 

...just saying...
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3121891/donald-trump-germany-angela-merkel-nato-spending/

 

221 pounds of gold.

$*%(&#(*%&*!

 

You really have to have a plan for getting that thing out of the country and cutting it up and smelting it quickly - otherwise they will catch you. Things that big are kind of hard to hide.

 

I wonder if that is troy pounds or avoirdupois.

EDIT: Actually, I just looked at the article (I originally read it elsewhere) and it says it is 100kg, which is avoirdupois. Don't they know that PMs are always measured in troy ounces and pounds? They should have said 268 pounds.

 

The coin has a weight of 100 kilos. By the way, world's biggest gold "coin" (from Australia) weighs one tonne. Guess that would be even harder to shlep out of a museum ...

Christian

 

so what if the authorities detain some people that have generic home made bricks of
221 lbs of gold at 999.99/1000 purity.
is that enough evidence to throw in jail?

maybe they'll mint their own gold coins after throwing a couple ounces of tin and silver into the mix.

 

Even if they melt it down, they will need to add some other metals to bring the purity down. If someone was to RXF the melted gold and come up with 999.99 fine gold, that's as good as a finger print.

 

Call the Pawn Stars...

 

"Let me call in an expert" ~ Rick Harrison

 

RXF? That seems like an acronym I am not familiar with.

 

...and that's when Rick calls his friend in a German museum...

 

Article said it was on loan by a private owner. I wonder how much insurance will pay out for it.

 

Spot.

The item is not that large, by the way. Gold weighs 1,206 pounds per cubic foot. The coin weighs 100 kilos, or about 221 pounds. It is therefore 221/1206 (0.183) of a cubic foot, or approximately 12 x 12 x 2¼ inches (as a square item, not round). It would easily fit into a backpack, IF you were strong.