100-kg gold coin worth $1 million stolen from Berlin’s Bode Museum

The Big Maple Leaf, a gold coin with a face value of $1 million and weighing 100 kg - which was a commemorative piece issued by the Royal Canadian Mint in 2007 and features the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II – was stolen from Berlin’s Bode Museum.

Thieves stole a gold coin with a face value of $1 million and weighing 100 kg from Berlin’s Bode Museum on Monday.

One of the world's largest gold coins, a 2007 Canadian $1 million Big Maple Leaf, which was stolen from Berlin's Bode Museum. (REUTERS File)

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

The coin, 53 cm (21 inches) across and 3 cm thick, features the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.

Bode Museum gave the face value of the coin at $1 million (920,000 euros), though the market price of 100 kg of gold is around $4 million.

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.