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Crime Beat Florida - A gold bar has been stolen from a Key West museum. Police say the gold bar (it weights about 4.5 pounds) is from a shipwreck and worth about $550,000! The whole episode was caught on tape as surveillance cameras were rolling as two men completed the theft.

The bar had been recovered from the shipwreck of a Spanish galleon off Florida. The nearly 75-ounce solid metal bar was kept in a case where museum visitors could touch and lift it.


"Everybody who comes to the museum is encouraged to lift the gold bar and to have a firsthand experience with history," said Melissa Kendrick, the museum's executive director. "This is one of the most iconic and best-known objects in the museum."

TC Palm has more details. The bar had been displayed for more than 20 years.

Authorities are searching for the thieves, and the museum is offering a $10,000 reward for the treasure's return.

CNN has video.