Solid gold coin worth over £3 million stolen from German museum

Theft: An identical coin to that stolen from the Bode Museum in Berlin
REUTERS
Tom Powell28 March 2017

A giant gold coin emblazoned with the Queen’s head and worth over £3 million has been stolen from a museum in Germany.

The Canadian coin, nicknamed the “big maple leaf”, was taken during the night from the Bode museum in Berlin.

The coin, which weighs 100kg and consists of pure 24-carat gold, is thought to be too heavy for a lone thief to have carried away.

Police believe thieves entered through a window but it is unclear how they evaded the museum’s alarm systems and then carried the half-metre coin away. A ladder was reportedly found on the train tracks nearby.

The Bode Museum on the Museum Island in Berlin
EPA

Police spokesman Winfrid Wenzel said: "Based on the information we have so far we believe that the thief, maybe thieves, broke open a window in the back of the museum next to the railway tracks.

"They then managed to enter the building and went to the coin exhibition. The coin was secured with bullet-proof glass inside the building. That much I can say."

The coin, minted by the Royal Canadian Mint in 2007, carries a likeness of the Queen on one side and a maple leaf on the other.

It was the only item stolen from the museum’s coin cabinet, which holds more than 500,000 objects.

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