Massive $6M Canadian coin stolen in Germany

By Barry Ellsworth

TRENTON, Ont. (AA) – A gigantic Canadian gold coin worth as much as US$6 million was stolen Monday from a museum in Germany.

Dubbed the “Big Maple Leaf” because it measures 3 centimeters (1 inch) thick, 53 centimeters (21 inches) in diameter and weighs 100 kilograms (220 pounds), the coin bears a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain on one side and maple leaves on the other.

The Royal Canadian Mint issued the coin in 2007 and it is in the Guinness Book of World Records for its purity of 999.99/1000 gold, the Toronto Star reported.

But the coin does not belong to the mint.

The original coin is in storage in the Canadian capital of Ottawa, and the mint then manufactured five more that were sold to private individuals. The owner of the stolen coin is not known at this time, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

Mint spokesman Alan Reeves told the Canadian Press wire service that after the original coin was unveiled, some potential buyers came forward asking to purchase one.

“So then it became a product that was made on demand and customers who made a non-refundable deposit on the coin had one manufactured for them,” Reeves said.

German police said thieves broke into the Berlin’s Bode Museum, which has one of the largest coin collections in the world, before dawn Monday and stole the coin. They gained access through a window, said museum spokesman Stefen Petersen.

“The coin was secured with a bullet-proof glass inside the building,” Winfrid Wenzel of the Berlin police said, as reported by Global News. “That much I can say.

“Neither I or Bode Museum can go into detail regarding personnel inside the building, the alarm system or security installations.”

A ladder was found at nearby railroad tracks.

While the coin has a face value of $1 million, its weight and purity makes it much more valuable with estimates running from $4.5 million to as high as $6 million.