£3.2m coin featuring The Queen’s image stolen from museum

A police investigation is underway after a coin which bears The Queen’s image was stolen from a museum in Germany.

However, weighing 100kg and with a value of £3.2m – this is no ordinary coin.

The giant coin, nicknamed ‘the big maple’, is made of pure 24-carat gold, and is worth 4 million dollars on today’s market – four times more than when it was minted in 2007.

The theft happened in the early hours of the morning when it was taken from the Bode Museum in Berlin.

The coin if far too heavy to be lifted by one person, meaning there were at least two burglars involved in the taking of the precious object.

A police spokesperson 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.

“Neither I nor the Bode Museum can go into detail regarding personnel inside the building, the alarm system or security installations.”

The Queen is featured on the coin because she is Canada’s Head of State. On the reverse of the 53cm coin is an image of a maple leaf, the Canadian national symbol.

It is unclear how the thieves managed to evade all of the security measures put in place, including getting access to the coin through bulletproof glass.

The most likely theory is that they climbed through a window. A discarded ladder was found nearby.