The price for gold first began to rise in 2005 and it has now reached around $1,200 an ounce. As the price rises, so does the theft of gold. The Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key West, Florida has become the latest victim of gold theft. Two thieves on Wednesday picked up a golden bar and walked out of the museum with it.
The gold bar, worth $550,000, has been on display at the museum for twenty-five years. Mel Fisher discovered the gold bar along with other treasure while searching the shipwreck of the 1622 Santa Margarita in 1980. Santa Margarita sank close to Key West during a storm. Between Santa Margarita and her sister ship which also sank, Fisher discovered 250,000 silver coins, a golden bar and emeralds totaling half a billion dollars.
The 16.5-karat gold bar was put on display in the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum. Its unique display case allowed visitors to pick it up and look at it from all angles. The museum’s executive director, Melissa Kendrick, claimed the display helped visitors connect to the discovery. She said, “It was touching something that came off the ocean floor.”
At 5:18 on Wednesday, two thieves reached through the display just like hundreds of visitors before them had done. Only they did not let go of the gold bar. Instead, they managed to pull the bar out of the case, walked past security and left the museum. No other visitors or security guards were in the room with the gold bar, but a security camera caught a clear view of the two men’s faces. The FBI is now trying to identify the thieves.
The museum’s insurance is offering a reward of $10,000 for the gold bar’s return. Police believe that the thieves will be unable to sell the bar. Others, however, worry that the thieves will melt the bar down or sell it in pieces. If this happens, authorities will hopefully be able to use gold fingerprinting to trace the impurities or elements and trace it back to the gold bar. The museum’s director remains optimistic about the recovery of the golden bar, though. If recovered, they will put it back on display but only after making security modifications.
Sources:
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=104&sid=2023150
http://cbs4.com/local/gold.bar.theft.2.1869470.html
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/08/19/florida.gold.bar.stolen/
