There’s something about daring heists that just captures the public’s imagination, and the thieves who stole a massive gold coin from Berlin’s Bode Museum (pictured above) early on Monday morning deserve a closer look.

It’s not just any old gold coin, mind you, because the unique coin, nicknamed the “Big Maple Leaf”, is entered into the Guinness Book of Records “for its immense purity of 999.99/1000 gold”.

As you might have guessed from the nickname the coin was issued by Canada, features a portrait of the Queen, and weights a whopping 100 kilograms.

If you’re wondering why it says ‘1 million de dollars’ it’s because the museum gave it a face value, but the market price of 100 kilograms worth of gold is just under €4 million (R56 million).

So how did they manage to sneak off with such a steal? The Telegraph reports:

German police said on Twitter that the thieves probably used a ladder, which was later found at a nearby rail track, to break into the museum at around 3.30am.

Investigators have not revealed how the burglars managed to avoid setting off alarms and leave the museum unnoticed while carrying the coin, which is likely too heavy for a single person to carry.

Suburban rail traffic was interrupted as police searched the area for clues.

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.”

Say what you want, that coin is no more.

I suppose the plus side is that thieves stole just the one coin, given that the museum houses one of the world’s biggest collections. Estimates put the number on display at around 540 000, with 102 000 coins from ancient Greece and about 50 000 Roman coins.

How does one resell such a beast? You don’t:

When asked what the thieves could do with the coin, Mr Wenzel told German newspaper Die Welt: “Either they were hired to do it by someone who wanted to have the coin, but it’s more likely that it will be melted down.”

Farewell gold coin, you had a good run.

[source:telegraph]