Berlin police say thieves broke into the Bode Museum in Berlin, Germany and made off with a massive 100 kilogram gold coin issued by the Royal Canadian Mint and valued at approximately $6 million.
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“Big Maple Leaf,” which is three centimetres thick with a diameter of 53 centimetres, has a portrait of the Queen on one side and maple leaves on the other.
It has a face value of $1 million, but by weight alone it would be worth more than $6 million at market prices.
The museum says the coin is in the Guinness Book of Records for its purity of 999.99/1000 gold.
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Spokesman Stefen Petersen said thieves apparently entered through a window at about 3:30 a.m. Monday, broke into a cabinet where the coin was kept, and escaped with it before police arrived.
“The coin was secured with bullet-proof glass inside the building. That much I can say,” Winfrid Wenzel of the Berlin police said. “Neither I or Bode museum can go into detail regarding personnel inside the building, the alarm system or security installations.”
A ladder was found by nearby railway tracks.
The coin was minted in 2007 and loaned to the Bode Museum in December 2010.
-With files from Global News.
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