Gold coin in Guinness Book of Records worth as much as $4.5M stolen from a German Museum

-

A massive gold coin worth millions of dollars, which is listed in the Guinness Book of Records for its purity of 999.99/1000 gold vanished from a museum in the middle of the night, police in Germany announced Monday, saying a group of thieves stole the 221-pound currency before police could arrive, according to the Bode Museum in Berlin, which housed the coin.
The daring thieves allegedly snuck in through a window around 3:30 a.m. Monday, broke into a cabinet holding the "Big Maple Leaf" coin, stole the coin and escaped, police spokesman Stefen Petersen said.

While Police searched the area, they found a ladder by nearby train tracks.

The 1.18-inch-thick coin, with a diameter of 20.9 inches, has a face value of 1 million Canadian dollars, or $750,000.

By weight alone, however, it would be worth almost $4.5 million at market prices. Petersen would not comment on whether authorities had surveillance video of the crime, but said police assume more than one person was involved because of the weight of the coin.

The coin has a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on one side and maple leaves on the other. It was produced in limited quantities by the Royal Canadian Mint to promote a new line of its Gold Maple Leaf bullion coins in 2007.

It has been on display at the Bode Museum, on Berlin's Museum Island, since December 2010.

Berlin museums spokesman Markus Farr said the coin is on loan from a private collection, but would not elaborate. Detectives specialized in art-related crimes are investigating the theft.


Source: AP

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Actress Ini Edo opens up on her marriage after 3 years

-
Image
Nollwood actress, Ini Edo, has opened up on her marriage, saying she has no regret breaking up with her husband of six years.  Ini Edo got married to an American-based Nigerian businessman, Phillip in 2008. She walked out of the marriage in September, 2014, following accusations of domestic violence and cheating. Speaking on ‘Rubbing Minds’ a Channel Television programme, the actress cited irresolvable differences and incompatibility as the major reasons for the crash of her marriage.  Ini Edo said that closeness should have, may be, saved her marriage since her former husband was in America and she in Nigeria. According to her, “May be being together would have helped keep us together. Because it would enable us study and understand each other more. May be it would have helped but I’m not sure.” Asked if her estranged husband was comfortable with her kind of job, she said,  “He met me an actress and I believe he was okay with that. Actually he complained. My work ta...
Read More

Scarcity: Calabar Residents now bath with satchet water (Details)

-
Image
File photo It has been revealed that residents of Calabar, the capital of Cross River State have resorted to the use sachet water to take their bath following the acute water scarcity that has hit the metropolis. According to Punch Metro, residents in the Calabar-South and Calabar Municipality axis of the metropolis expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of water in the last two months. They lamented that the situation had forced them to resort to the use of sachet water. There are insinuations that the water situation was worsened by the kidnap of the state Commissioner for Water Resources, Mr. Gabriel Odu-Oji, who was released after the payment of N10.4m ransom to the kidnappers who held him for 31 days. A resident of Asari-Iso in Calabar Municipality, Mrs. Magdalene Okoi, said the situation was worrisome, adding that it has worsened the economic state of most homes because of the huge bills being incurred with the constant purchase of sachet water. “This ...
Read More