Thieves Grab The Hometown Gold

[Mulboyne]

[floatl][/floatl]Reuters: Thieves make off with gold block from Japan museum
Three masked men on Sunday snatched a block of gold bullion valued at roughly $1.71 million from a Japanese museum that allowed visitors to touch the 100 kg piece. Shoving aside a woman museum worker, the three then fled with an accomplice who had been serving as lookout at the museum in Takayama, a small city in central Japan. "There were no sensors or burglar alarms, since the museum allowed its visitors to touch the gold as they wanted," a police spokesman said. He could not explain why the gold had been displayed in the museum.

I believe the gold was bought with the money granted to municipalities under Takeshita's furusato sosei scheme which was an attempt to boost local economies by giving them 100 million yen apiece to spend as they liked. The museum is located near to the stalactite grotto of Hida. I suppose the theft also qualifies for inclusion in this thread.

[Captain Japan]

I'd be curious as to how they physically got it out the door. 100kg is no small feat, especially considering that photo doesn't show anything in which to grab onto.

I suppose the next move will be interesting too. There can't be too many plants in Japan capable of melting that sucker down into a manageable form. Or maybe I should say there can't be too many plants that wouldn't become wise as to what is going down when melting that sucker down into a manageable form.

[Taro Toporific]

There can't be too many plants in Japan capable of melting that sucker down into a manageable form.

Gold won't oxidize quickly from the flame of an oxy-acetylene torch which are very common on any Japanese construction site.
[INDENT]Just place the gold in a largest CorningWare pan you can find,
Put a fan spreader on a oxy-acetylene torch,
Melt off 5cm or so gold into the bottom of the CorningWare pan,
Throw water in the pan to cool down the gold,
Pop the gold layer out, and
Repeat.[/INDENT]
It would take a couple hours to have a stack of crude 5cm thick strips melted down from a 100 kg block. To melt it down into proper looking bullion would take an afternoon with 100,000 yen worth supplies from Tokyu Hands.

Need a partner?
(I've melded down a lot of salvaged battery lead into strips to do bodywork on my lead-sleds. )

[Captain Japan]

This page indicates that the melting point of gold v. iron is 3,000 deg. C. v. 300. In poking around, I can see that an acetylene torch can routinely reach temperatues over 3,400 deg. C. I don't know how much you'd lose temperature-wise by spreading the flame but you are right in that Tokyu Hands likely would be all that is needed.

[Taro Toporific]

...I don't know how much you'd lose temperature-wise by spreading the flame ....

Distance + flame spreader = desired temperature

I back off about 20 cm with a flame spreader to melt lead for auto body work. Regular plumbing torches (propane) are cheaper but I use what I've got.

I'm surprised nobody else has ripped off the 100 kg block before this.
Just pry the gold block off the pedestal with a levers or a small winch onto a stretcher and even two healthy guys could run off with it. With a little planning even one old gimpy guy could get it on wheels and roll it it out. "Shoving aside a woman museum worker" is the least of the problems the "three masked men" had.

[TFG]

Certainly a better afternoons work than stealing bronze.

[amdg]

Just pry the gold block off the pedestal with a levers or a small winch onto a stretcher and even two healthy guys could run off with it. With a little planning even one old gimpy guy could get it on wheels and roll it it out. "Shoving aside a woman museum worker" is the least of the problems the "three masked men" had.

Don't forget that you need a bag of sand slightly smaller than the gold block so that you won't trip the weight sensor mechanism.

[Captain Japan]

Golden bathtub worth 120 million yen stolen from hotel
Mainichi

KAMOGAWA, Chiba -- A golden bathtub worth about 120 million yen has been stolen from a hotel here, police said.

At around 9:20 a.m. on Wednesday, police received an emergency call from an employee of Kominato Hotel Mikazuki in the Uchiura district of Kamogawa, reporting that a golden bathtub had been stolen from the men's bathroom.

Officers examined the bathroom and found the chain that fixed the bathtub had been cut off. Investigators suspect that the bathtub was removed sometime between 2 a.m. and 9 a.m.

The bathtub, made of pure gold, measures 71 centimeters wide, 121 centimeters long and 65 centimeters high and weighs some 80 kilograms. It is estimated to be worth approximately 120 million yen at current market values. (Mainichi)

[Mulboyne]

Golden bathtub worth 120 million yen stolen from hotel
Mainichi

I wonder if the girl was still in it.

[kurohinge1]

[SIZE="4"]Gold bathtub stolen from Japanese hotel[/SIZE]

A glittering bathtub made of gold, worth Y120 million ($A1.21 million) has been stolen from a resort hotel near Tokyo.

A worker at Kominato Hotel Mikazuki in Kamogawa, south of Tokyo, notified police the fancy tub was missing from the hotel's guest bathroom on the 10th floor of its building, according to a local police official.

The round tub, 1.21 metres in diameter and 71 centimetres tall, was made of 18-karat gold weighing 80 kilograms, the official said.

The tub, flanked by two crane statues, has been a main feature of the hotel's shared bathroom.

Visitors can take a dip in the tub, but it is only available a few hours a day "for security reasons," the hotel's website said.

Someone apparently cut the chain attached to the door of a small section of the bathroom where the bathtub was placed, but not riveted, and made off with the tub, the police official said.

The cranes were left untouched.

"We have no witness information and there are no video cameras," the official said.

Me thinks someone at the Kominato needs to better research the meaning of "security".

The 'best banner' award for this, though, goes to the N.Z. Heraldfor "Japanese tub Goldfingered"

[Mike Oxlong]

It has been reported that there are no marks on the floor where drag marks would be expected. The only security was a chained and padlocked door. Sounds like the hotel is going for an insurance payout

[Captain Japan]

The hotel's Web page is here. They are saying that 100,000 people used it. It looks like you get to wear a crown while bathing.

[Captain Japan]

3 held over snatching of gold block worth 250 million yen
Kyodo

Police have arrested three suspects in connection with the snatching of a 100-kilogram block of gold bullion worth 250 million yen from a museum in Takayama, Gifu Prefecture, in March, investigative sources said Wednesday. The Gifu prefectural police have seized a gold block in the possession of the three -- one Japanese man, one man of unconfirmed nationality and one Romanian woman -- suspecting it is part of the stolen one, the sources said.

[Captain Japan]

100-kg gold bar heist suspect charged for stealing pure gold fish
Mainichi

OITA -- A South Korean man already indicted for stealing a 200 million yen gold bar from a Gifu Prefecture museum in March has been charged with the 2006 theft of a pure gold fish from another display, police said.

O Kil-sing, 41, unemployed of Kitakyushu, was arrested for theft after he allegedly stole a golden sea bream that had been on display at the Taio Kinzan service area in Hita, Oita Prefecture.

O had already been charged with the March theft of a 100-kilogram gold bar from a tourist facility in Takayama, Gifu Prefecture, in March.

Police said that at some time from the afternoon of Feb. 12, 2006, until the morning of the following day, O stole one of the two pure gold fish on display, as well as over 100 precious metal items with a total value of about 67 million yen.

[canman]

The guy is charged with stealing that much gold and he is out running around stealing more. How the hell did that happen.

[Mulboyne]

Mainichi: Yakuza tied to Takayama museum 200 million yen gold bar robbery

A yakuza link has been made in the connection with the high profile theft from a Gifu Prefecture museum last year of some 100 kilograms of gold bars worth about 200 million yen as the trial of two men accused of the robbery began here. Yoshimi Kure, 41, unemployed of Kitakyushu, and Kohei Horikawa, 23, a construction worker from Ashiya, Fukuoka Prefecture, both pleaded guilty to the charge of robbery resulting in injury as their trial opened at the Gifu District Court...After the robbery, Kure assumed several false identities, which he used to sell the gold bars to numerous precious metal brokers separately on six occasions from late March to early June last year. Some of the money he received was transferred to several different bank accounts, including one with links to a yakuza crime syndicate...more...