Thieves Steal $700,000 Worth Of Native Gold From Paris Museum
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In the early hours of September 16, 2025, thieves launched a daring heist on the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France. They made off with native gold specimens worth about $700,000 from the museum’s geology and mineralogy gallery.
Native gold is much rarer than the gold found in jewelry. Most jewelry gold comes from ore and must be refined, but native gold occurs naturally in metallic form. Each piece is unique, with its own shape and crystal structure. Besides being valuable, these nuggets are important to science. Researchers study them to understand Earth’s history and how its rocks and minerals formed.
Museum officials say the theft was carefully planned. They believe the thieves disabled the museum’s alarm and security systems. This allowed them to enter without being seen. They then used a blowtorch and an angle grinder to break into the display cases.
“We are dealing with an extremely professional team, perfectly aware of where they needed to go and with professional equipment," said museum director Emmanuel Skoulios. "It is absolutely not by chance that they went for these specific items."
Since the theft, the affected gallery has been closed to the public. The museum has also added extra security to prevent future break-ins.
This heist is the latest in a series of museum thefts in France. In early September 2025, three Chinese porcelain works classified as "national treasures" were stolen from a museum in Limoges. They were valued at about $9.5 million. Late in 2024, armed thieves used axes to smash display cases at the Musée Cognacq-Jay in Paris. They stole several 18th-century luxury items, including a diamond encrusted box. As of October 2, 2025, no arrests have been made in any of these cases.
Resources: Smithsonian.org, theguardian.com, NBCnews.com
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32 Comments
- imsocool_jk3 daysbro like how did they do it #bad sicerity like #best theff ever
showgirlsavvy133 daysi'm actually really amazed how they managed to pull that off- highsecurity3 daysIF YOU HAVE ACTUAL GOLD HAVE MAX SECURITY!!! 😩
- showgirlsavvy133 dayshow is that possible
- bicugesakagy3 daysHonestly just find out where they went
- bicugesakagy3 daysBruh get better security😭
elijah673 daysWhy did they not upgrade this system and security when it happened the first time if they did it would of ben fine.
bellabigbac4 daysliterally bro
negypyfewane4 daysWhy didn't they already have high security, the museum has literal gold
crazychristine4 dayswow!! the they just let 700k leave in the hands of thieves :(
geogeek4 daysNot only is this wrong because it’s stealing, it’s also harmful to others and to science due to the rarity of the gold type.