Asking for Trouble

There's an old saying about "asking a stupid question will get you a stupid answer." There is also another version which is usually taught in schools or on your first job that says, "the only stupid question is the one you don't ask," but for this blog I am choosing to see how both apply to the article I read earlier today. The curators at the Ohashi Collection Kan museum in Takayama, Japan were quite well known for one of the items that they had on display at the museum. It was a 220 pound (100 kilogram) gold bar that was worth $2 million. Some people may be saying, 'so what? Other museums have stuff that valuable' and that maybe true but how many museums actually allow you to touch the object in question. The museum had kept the gold bar in a display case which was left open so that visitors could touch the gold.

Now thus far in my life I haven't owned or possessed anything quite so valuable. I have a few things in my life which I consider valuable either for monetary but largely for sentimental values and these are the things I keep locked up. If I choose to share these things or showcase them to my friends, I again make sure that after all that is done, I keep it safely. The reason for this being that although I have faith that the larger part of humanity is good, kind, and considerate, there is a smaller part which is evil, coniving and always looking to make a quick buck. So it should come as no surprise to readers that the massive gold block was pilfered the other day.

According to some of the museum officials, they were alerted that 'something was wrong' when they heard a lot of footsteps in and around the area near the god bar. When they happened upon the scene, three masked men were busy carrying the gold bar out of the museum and quickly got into a car in which they made their getaway. Officials sprang into action and have been busily attempting to get their hands on the criminals and the gold bar but they have been unsuccessful. Knowing a little bit about such things, mainly from spy novels or crime novels, it will be difficult to get a handle on the gold now because it is possible it could be melted down and reforged in smaller bars that could then be sold on the market. You wouldn't want to walk into a shop and try to sell it off as is since I'm sure people would report getting a massive gold bar.

I tried to think of a similar situation though. I was trying to recall a time when I had seen an object under similar circumstances and where I wondered how or why it was that a valuable object was kept in such an open area. Living in the DC area, there are a lot of valuable objects to be found so in mentally going through it, I realized that the one object that came to mind was the sliver of moon rock on display at the Air and Space Museum in DC. This piece of moon was brought back on one of the Apollo landings and has been on display in the museum for decades now. It is kept on an open display case and all though it is secured to the case, it is open to the public and you can touch it.

Unlike the Japanese museum, this piece of moon rock is left out in the open but there is a guard usually watching it all the time that the museum is open. The display case is located very close to the exits so a very determined individual could manage to get it and run off but with the guard and the fact that it is attached to the display case you can imagine it wouldn't be a simple snatch and grab. In other museums you have valuable objects like the Hope Diamond and all buried deep inside the museums inside locked cases with guards around. You are allowed to get as close as you can, but even then, security prevails.

I can't imagine what was the big idea with the museum in Japan. Perhaps they had a greater bit of faith in the honesty of their patrons than they should have but they appear to have paid the price for it. Reports indicate that the museum has subsequently been closed down for an 'emergency holiday' while they investigate the theft. It's sad to think that an object of such value and rarity was left out in the open but the actions of the theives brings to light another cliched saying that seems appropriate to this situation, 'one bad apple spoils the bunch.'