World’s Largest Gold Canadian Maple Leaf Stolen from German Museum

An enormous gold coin weighing as much as an NFL linebacker and worth millions was stolen from the Bode Museum in Berlin at about 3:30 a.m. Monday morning. The massive 221-pound (100-kilogram) gold coin, which measures 21-inches in diameter and is 1-inch thick, is worth over $4,000,000, according to Christian Science Monitor.

The purloined piece is technically a Canadian Maple Leaf, although it would contain the equivalent of 3,215 1 troy oz. gold Maples if melted down and recast. The enormous coin also shared many of the design features as its smaller versions, including the unmatched purity of 99.999%.

The Bode Museum claims one of the largest coin collections in the world, and the coin was a source of pride both for the Berlin museum and the Royal Canadian Mint, which issued the coin in 2007. At the time of issuance, it was the world’s first coin with a million dollar face value, according to the RCM’s website.

The Mint created the enormous sovereign to promote its new 2007 line of 99.999% pure 1 oz. Gold Maple Leaf bullion coins. After a few parties expressed interested in buying the coins, the Mint decided to make a limited run available for sale. So far, there have been five created for investors both in Canada and abroad.

While not the most expensive heist in history, the theft of the Bode Museum coin now ranks among the biggest thefts since FDR issued Executive Order 6102 in 1933, requiring all American citizens holding “gold coins, gold bullion, and gold certificates” to turn them over to Federal Reserve banks. The government’s gold grab helped create one of the rarest and most expensive coins today: the 1933 double eagle.

As astonishing as the gold heist seems, pulling it off appears rather straightforward, requiring a rock and a ladder. Berlin police spokesman Winfried Wenzel stated: “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.”

A ladder, which police suspect was used by the bandits, was found on a set of railroad tracks behind the Museum.Although the Bode Museum didn’t go into specifics on security systems, they did admit that no security alarms had been triggered by the thieves, possibly suggesting an inside job.