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And Another Numismatic-Related Theft in FL Today....

Walkerguy21DWalkerguy21D Posts: 11,401 ✭✭✭✭✭
Thieves Steal Gold Bar Worth $550,000

Posted: 6:26 pm EDT August 19, 2010
Updated: 6:27 pm EDT August 19, 2010

KEY WEST, Fla. -- They may not be Thomas Crown or Danny Ocean, but two thieves reportedly made off with a gold bar worth about $550,000 from a Key West museum.

Police and the FBI are working to identify the two suspects, who stole a historic gold bar this week from the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum.

The 74.85-ounce bar had been on display at the museum for more than 20 years. It was locked in a see-through case that allowed visitors to touch and lift it, while keeping it secure.

Security footage shows the suspects breaking into the case at about 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, shortly after the museum closed for the night.

The bar was found in 1980 at the Santa Margarita shipwreck off the Florida Keys.
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Comments

  • savoyspecialsavoyspecial Posts: 7,274 ✭✭✭✭
    it will be a shame if this bar gets melted, but i suspect that is the only way to dispose of something this conspicuous

    www.brunkauctions.com

  • CoinCrazyPACoinCrazyPA Posts: 2,899 ✭✭✭✭
    Sadly I agree, to the melting pot. Hopefully the security camera got a good mug shot and they get caught before hand.
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  • SwampboySwampboy Posts: 12,959 ✭✭✭✭✭
    image

    The entertainment can never be overdressed....except in burlesque

  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Any details available on this theft? It certainly is daring, but not sure if well planned or amateur...... Cheers, RickO
  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 46,003 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Agree that it's probably already been melted and no longer exists. Real shame.

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
    "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
    "Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire

  • DrPeteDrPete Posts: 1,497 ✭✭✭
    Melting the bar takes it from a highly valuable historic bar given a value of $550K to a melt value somewhere around $90K. That's a great tragedy if that's what the crooks do. I hope it gets found before it's melted. I visited that museum and held the bar through the hole in the plexiglas about 2 years ago. A really neat thing to do.
    Dr. Pete
  • I've seen that bar and always thought that the security precautions were not what they should have been considering the value of the collection. True, there were probably unseen measures, but on the whole the museum seemed vulnerable to me.

    If the bar was stolen at 5:15 pm, it was at a smelters shop in Miami by 9:00 pm What a shame that it is in all probability lost forever.
  • johnny9434johnny9434 Posts: 28,155 ✭✭✭✭✭
    what a bummer image sorry to hear that
  • DarrellDarrell Posts: 87 ✭✭✭
    I was there Wednesday morning and held the gold bar. It was stolen that afternoon. The female security guard was standing by the
    front door complaining about how much a coke and chips cost. I told my wife after we left that the security was a joke.
  • LanLordLanLord Posts: 11,712 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>I was there Wednesday morning and held the gold bar. It was stolen that afternoon. The female security guard was standing by the
    front door complaining about how much a coke and chips cost. I told my wife after we left that the security was a joke. >>

    Okay, so we have some suspects! image

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