The Bill Reid pieces, particularly the Golden Box, are transcendental. Bill Reid is considered to be one of the major Northwest Coast artists involved in the so-called renaissance of the art here; he’s a national figure. These pieces are all very delicately carved, and are from different periods of his life, which shows the evolution of his work. They are signature pieces that are as important as the Group Of Seven in defining the values and the aesthetic sensibilities of all Canadians.

On Saturday morning, the whole of Canada woke up considerably impoverished by the loss.

At this moment, we’re completely in the dark in terms of what happened. We’re a category A-listed institution when it comes to security, which means we have the highest security rating. We have electronic alarms, including two alarm systems on the Bill Reid pieces. Yesterday we went through the very complicated computerized records to get an idea of what happened, and it looks like the alarms did work.

The pieces were also encased in bullet-proof laminate security glass, so considerably force would have been required to smash it.

There are only two possible motives for the theft: either this was a targeted hit and the thief had an order from a collector somewhere in the world to obtain these pieces, or the material was taken for its gold value.

Since the Mexican pieces were taken from a different part of the museum and were not of great value, we believe the motive may have been for the gold, and if the material was taken to be melted down, there was something we could do about it.

Within a very short period of time, we posted a reward of $50,000 and did something museums generally don’t do: we disclosed the value of the pieces in the collection, which is roughly $2 million. The comparative value of the gold, melted down, is about $15,400. We’re trying to make the point that the gold value is insignificant compared to the artistic value.

There are generally two reactions to break-ins that museums and art galleries have: Either they keep it very quiet and keep the investigation discreet, or, in far fewer cases, they go public and make as much noise about it as possible.

Although it’s very embarrassing from the museum’s point of view, we’ve taken the latter course because statistically, it’s more effective in getting material back.

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View a slideshow of the missing works of art: Bill Reid's Stolen Treasures [1]

Visit the UBC Museum of Anthropology website [2]

If you were interested in this story, you may also want to read Rufino Tamayo Masterpiece: From Trash Bin To Auction Block [3]