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Someone Stole the Diamond-Encrusted 'Maltese Eagle' in Canada

Nobody knows what happened to the multi-million dollar figure, but Sam Spade isn't around to solve this one.
Photo via Ron Shore

Sometime life imitates art, and sometimes it specifically imitates the 1941 film noir classic the Maltese Falcon.

Police are investigating a report that thieves escaped with a solid gold diamond-encrusted eagle in a Metro Vancouver suburb Sunday night. The cops are now on the hunt for what remains of the multi-million-dollar statue.

The 18-pound Maltese Eagle is known as Canada's most expensive piece of contemporary art, with 763 diamonds covering its head, and a base mounted with a giant emerald found in a shipwreck off the coast of Florida.

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"The head is 18 carat white gold, the body is 14 carat yellow gold, the tail feathers are 14 carat white gold, and the base is 10 carat yellow gold," statue owner Ron Shore told VICE News. "It took 40 craftsmen about 4,000 hours to build it. It was a substantial amount of time to create it."

Shore said he commissioned the piece now worth between $6 and $9 million as part of a treasure hunt in support of breast cancer fundraiser. The statue had been on display at an art exhibition at the Vancouver Convention Centre over the weekend, and was in transit when he says robbers made off with the stash.

"While loading the eagle into a vehicle, accompanied by the designated security person, the Golden Eagle was stolen," Shore said in a police press conference Monday. "I struggled as hard as I could yet was unable to prevent the robbery."

Shore was injured and and was treated in hospital. Police have not said whether or not the thieves were armed. Though an ongoing investigation prevents him from talking about specifics of the incident, Shore responded to security questions raised in the media.

"The eagle is never at my residence, ever," Shore told VICE News. "It has always been in an offsite security vault, contrary to many reports out there. At this point, all I can say is there were substantial security measures in place."

Though the dramatic events mirror the premise of a Hollywood mystery by a similar name, there is presently no private investigator played by Humphrey Bogart on the case. Unless you include at least one Metro Vancouver pawn shop owner, who heard about the robbery and said he is keeping an eye out for robbers.

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Also named Ron, the North Shore Pawn Shop operator told VICE News he has detained thieves in the past, and would do the same to someone he suspected of reselling the stolen statue. "I have no problem holding a person. I've worked as a bouncer," he said. "If I don't trust them, I have no problem delaying them to have the police come down."

Ron added the thieves would likely be too smart to pawn the gold and jewels even in parts, since he and others in the industry take care to check ID and make regular police reports. He speculated the crooks would melt the bird down and sell to gold refineries "untraced."

Sargent Sarah Swallow of the Delta Police said investigators were considering this and more screen-worthy possibilities, including if the robbers have fled across the country, or smuggled it across the Canada-US border. "Those will all be avenues our investigators will consider," Swallow wrote in an emailed statement. Police are also seeking tips from the public.

Shore said he was in the process of trying to sell the eagle statue when he became the target of the old Hollywood-style robbery. Because its value had increased far beyond the treasure hunt's $1 million stated prize, Shore said he had planned to use the extra funds to launch a series of benefit concerts across North America.

Asked if his cancer research foundation will try to replace the eagle statue if it isn't recovered, Shore said he hasn't decided. "At this point, my staff and I haven't discussed it," he told VICE News. "It's less than 48 hours since it was stolen, so we really don't know what direction we'll take."

Follow Sarah Berman on Twitter: @Sarahberms