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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53 Comments
natewyky-1756215852342 monthsThey need more security! # SECURITY #
lebezusa-1756215851302 monthsI think they need to talk to the people who used to work there.- fyhomoma-1756215850142 monthsthese guy are very good at what they do and while I'm disappointed in them, I'm honestly impressed with how well thought out the plan was and how good they were. they shouldnt throw these guys in jail, but recruit them to the government to be supa spies.
- callmedeath19 daysTRUE
- podabokajadoabout 2 monthsI agree they could be like…spider man but in real life?????
- hozicolutiho2 monthsdang they should have better #SECURITY#
- diligozelyvi2 monthsthat's crazy
howigisolaru2 monthsbro how did they manage to steal that gold from a gold museum #Worst Security #Top Thief
alexbatchelor242 monthsDang! Impressive. Though I wouldn't let this slide if I was security. #Getbetter!- gam3boi6232 monthsif your a thief dont do this if you cant use what you stole
emmaanna2 monthsif they wanted to change that to money,they will need to go to a bank. if they go to the bank,they will get caught. so that gold is actually useless to them,but they can also tell other people to help them change to money but i don't think that they will help.- wafusotidyja2 monthscant believe they dont have max security at a museum holding actual gold
