100kg gold coin stolen from Berlin museum

March 28, 2017 | 11:00

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BERLIN: Thieves stole a gold coin with a face value of US$1 million (S$1.39 million) and weighing 100 kilograms from Berlin's Bode Museum on Monday (Mar 27).

100kg gold coin stolen from Berlin museum

The US$1 million coin is the "Big Maple Leaf", a commemorative piece issued by the Royal Canadian Mint in 2007. (Photo: AFP)

According to German media, the stolen coin is the "Big Maple Leaf", a commemorative piece issued by the Royal Canadian Mint in 2007.

The coin, 53 centimetres across and three centimetres thick, features the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.

Bode Museum gave the face value of the coin at US$1 million, although the market price of 100 kilograms of gold is around US$4 million.

German police said on Twitter that the robbers likely used a ladder found at a nearby rail track to break into the museum at around 3:30 am (9.30am Singapore time).

Suburban rail traffic was interrupted as investigators combed the area for clues.

The Bode Museum, located on the German capital's UNESCO-listed Museum Island, houses one of the world's biggest coin collections.

The holding includes 102,000 coins from ancient Greece and about 50,000 Roman coins

AFP

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