The incident occurred early on September 16, at the Paris Museum of Natural History, when cleaning staff arrived to work and discovered that the museum's geological - mineral exhibition room had been broken into. According to the museum's leader - Mr. Emmanuel Skoulios, the theft group acted very professionally, using corners and flashlights to break the security guard door and took away four to six natural gold specimens from the national collection.
Although the value measured by the price of raw gold is about 600,000 euros, most museum staff affirm that these gold models have heritage, scientific and historical values that cannot be priced. Each sample is valuable natural evidence for geological - mineral, environmental, and mine origin research, etc.
One of the lost gold models was a natural gold sample with anhydrates measuring about 9 × 8.5 cm, originating from the Donatia mine (California, USA), donated to the museum by a French collector.
What raises big suspicions is that the museum's alarm system and security cameras may have been disabled since the previous cyber attack in July - although it is unclear whether the security system was faulty at the time of the theft.
The mineral exhibition hall has been temporarily closed to protect the remaining artifacts and count for further damage or loss. Paris police have opened an investigation into suspected high-organized crime, as the stolen samples are very selective.
The theft comes as many public museums in France have been targeted by high-value thefts in recent months such as Limoges with precious pottery items, or daytime incidents in Paris and Saone-et-Loire.
Mr. Skoulios said that this loss is not only a material loss but also a huge loss of heritage - because these specimens cannot be humanized, once they are melted or disappeared, their research value and history will also be erased.
