Whoops -- art exhibit gone horribly wrong

From BBC World News:

Gold theft in a Japanese museum
Three masked men have stolen a massive block of gold bullion on display in a museum in Japan.

The gold bar, valued at $1.71m (1.27m euro; �0.87m), weighed about 220 pounds (100kg) and was kept in an open safe.

The museum, in the central city of Takayama, said the gold was not protected by sensors as they wanted visitors to be able to touch it.

But the group of thieves went one step further, helping themselves to the precious metal and dragging it away.

The gold was lugged past an employee alerted by the noise, down a staircase and out of the museum where the three men were driven away by a fourth accomplice.

"The gold was exhibited on the second floor, which was monitored by a security camera from the first floor," said 59-year-old Hisao Nakahagi, the owner of the gold.

That has got to suck for Mr. Nakahagi but who in their right mind would display a bar like that in such a way that someone could walk off with it. At least some kind of pressure switch that would have let holy hell loose if the bar was shifted...