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A Canadian gold coin named “Big Maple Leaf” and bearing the image of Queen Elizabeth II was stolen from Berlin’s Bode Museum on Monday.
The coin is pure gold, weighs about 100 kilogram and has a face value of $1 million (Rs 6.5 crore).
Berlin police spokesman said the thieves entered through a window and broke into a cabinet where the coin was kept.
A ladder found alongside nearby railway tracks is believed to have been used by the thieves and then dumped.
The museum says the Big Maple Leaf is in the Guinness Book of Records for its purity of 999.99/1000 gold.
The three centimetre thick coin is a commemorative piece issued by the Royal Canadian Mint in 2007.
The Bode Museum houses one of the world's biggest collections of coins.
Exhibits include 102,000 coins from ancient Greece and about 50,000 Roman coins.
Image: The three centimetre thick coin was issued by Royal Canadian Mint in 2007. Photograph: Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters