The gold coin is popularly known as Big Maple Leaf. A gold coin weighing 220 pounds and a face value worth $1 million. It was produced in 2007 by the Canadian mints and came to be one of the largest coins to ever exist globally at some point- during their time of production, with twenty inches across and an inch thickness.
According to Edmonton Collection, an online coin collection site, the Canadian mints made these coins out of pure gold, and each weighed 100kilograms. The front part of the coin was designed by Susanna Blunt and featured a portrait of Queen Elizabeth. The coins’ back was created by a Canadian mint artist and engraver Stan Witten and features the Canadian maple leaf image.
There were six Big Maple Coins in existence; one was in the Canadian mint storage, the other five were made available for sale. One was taken to Queen Elizabeth, two sold to unknown United Arab Emirates buyers, one sold to Oro Direct, a Spanish trading company, and the last one sold to Mr. Fuchsmann. They lend it in 2010 to the Bode Museum in Berlin.
The BML on museum display was stolen in March 2017 by a group of four thieves. They got it out through a window, down a ladder into a waiting vehicle to be transported away. There were four caught in the Coin heist, but it is wasn’t recovered.
Ironically, no one can find it despite its gold purity worth $4 million, the face value of $1 million, and quantity. It’s possible that the thieves melted the coin and sold it in small portions of gold.
The trial of the four men who engaged in stealing the BML is ongoing. Reports from ABC News says that the prosecutors are pushing for long term sentences for the accused. They ask the Berlin regional court to give two men a sentence of five or six sentences while the other two sentences of seven years.
Three of the accused, aged 24, 20, and 22 years are charged with having ties in organizing the crime, while the fourth man was a security guard at the museum where the coin got stolen. None of the defendants spoke during their trials, even though the attorneys deny their participation in the crime.
You may wonder why mint made such an enormous coin that will be of no use as pocket money. But the answer is that they made it to show off. The Canadian mint was by then releasing new bullion coins. Ensuring their gold purity is at a percentage of 99.999 from 99.99, a new threshold in the coin industry.
Following competition on bullion coin production among mints, the Royal Canadian Mint had crossed the new edge. To celebrate their achievement, they made something remarkable to remind them of their success, thus creating the Big Maple Leaf coins.
