A Vancouver museum is offering a $50,000 reward for the safe return of stolen iconic gold pieces designed by the late Haida artist Bill Reid.
The metal value of the pieces is roughly $15,000, while their value as art objects is estimated to be $2 million.
Anthony Shelton, director of the University of British Columbia's Museum of Anthropology, said he hopes the thieves have not melted down the artworks.
"Bill Reid is often considered to be one of the most important of all First Nations artists, but his importance is greater than that," Shelton told CTV Newsnet.
"Some of his pieces are symbolic of Canada itself. They're signature pieces. It's a great loss to the museum, but it's an even greater loss to all Canadians.
"His art is something that's transcendental; it goes beyond boundaries."
Twelve pieces in total were stolen from the museum sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning.
The works designed by the internationally renowned artist include a gold box, a brooch, several bracelets and cufflinks.
He is perhaps best known for his sculpture "The Spirit of Haida Gwaii" which is featured on the Canadian $20 bill.
It would be extremely difficult to sell the pieces because Reid's work is so well known in the Canadian art community, according to Moya Waters, the museum's associate director.
"I think it would be next to impossible to sell them publicly unless there's some private person that's looking for them and never wants them to be known to the public again," she said.
Reid, whose mother was Haida and father was European, spent most of his life in B.C. before he died in 1998.
Waters said the museum has a trusted staff and what has until now been an effective security system.
She said the pieces were an integral part of the museum's collection, and the theft came as a "complete shock."
