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Solid Gold, Diamond-Encrusted Eagle Valued At $6.8 Million Stolen In Delta, British Columbia

By Jean Mendoza
Published on: 18:19 PST, May 31, 2016

On Sunday, the Golden Eagle was stolen from its owner, Ron Shore. The statue is made of 18 pounds of gold, has a 12.7 carat 400-year-old emerald recovered from a Spanish treasure galleon shipwreck, and has 763 diamonds, making its value a whopping $6.8 million.

Ron Shore is an expert in treasure hunting and is the creator of the initiative called The World’s Greatest Treasure Hunt, which is a marketing event and book series started in order to raise funds for breast cancer research.

The Golden Eagle, according to CNN, was stolen on Sunday night at approximately 10 p.m. in Delta, British Columbia. The report says that Shore was transporting the Golden Eagle to a secure location when the incident occurred. It had been displayed at Art! Vancouver, an art fair that lasted four days.

“The eagle was in transport. It was being transported to a secure location. During the transport, I was badly injured in trying to protect it from being stolen.”

According to the Delta Police Department, Ron Shore only suffered minor injuries and was treated at a hospital before being released.

The robber, who is yet to be identified, chose a residential street as the location for the heist. The Delta Police are in the first stages of the investigation.

Ron Shore started doing breast cancer campaigns after his sister-in-law died from breast cancer. At the time of her sickness, Shore’s sister-in-law was pregnant and chose to not receive treatment to save the life of her unborn child. She gave birth to a daughter and died two days later.

According to the same CNN report, the Golden Eagle had been for sale before it was stolen. If it had been sold, the money would have been used to fund several concerts for the benefit of breast cancer research.

“We wanted to have the world’s best artists to play. People like Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga, Adele, Taylor Swift, Elton John. I’m really hoping that the music industry can come together regardless of whether I can get the eagle back. That is my whole dream.”

The World’s Greatest Treasure Hunt, the book Shore created, consists of clues that lead to treasures that can be found in different locations. According to the book’s website, there are 12 silver eagles patterned after the Golden Eagle that are valued at $20,000 each. Each eagle weighs 15 pounds and has 1.5-carat blue sapphire eyes. Players have to answer a series of questions, and the first one to answer correctly and submit to the website wins one of the 12 silver eagles. As of Monday, seven silver eagles had yet to be claimed.

Ron Shore said that he has nothing left after the Golden Eagle was stolen.

“I mortgaged my house and used my savings to buy the gold and diamonds. And then to have an old world treasure I approached the Fisher family from Key West, with the Atocha shipwreck, and I asked them if they had an emerald from the shipwreck that I could use.”

The sales of his treasure hunt book didn’t go as well as he expected, which is why he decided to sell the Golden Eagle. Ron Shore cannot share more details about the robbery because the investigation is ongoing. The police are currently working with witnesses and are reviewing footage to come up with suspects.

[Image via Great Hunt official website]

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