80kg quartz theft: Insurance may not cover Tingha museum's $100k loss

But no one is more heartbroken than the owner Aileen Roberts who inherited the crystal from her younger brother James Curtin when he died three years ago.

Mr Curtin found the stone in the local area in 1993, and in 1998 he allowed the gem to go on display at the Wing Hing Long Museum.

The theft occurred at around 1am on Saturday, and officers from the New England Police District were notified later that day.

An emotional Mrs Roberts said she was devastated by the loss of the monster mineral, and not because of its extraordinary financial value.

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"It has a lot of sentimental value," she said. "I hope whoever took it doesn't break it up because it will lose its value and wouldn't be worth anything. James found a few other beautiful things, but nothing like that. Everybody loved it, and people came from all over the country to this museum, and some of them came just to look at that stone."

The speed and method of the theft suggest professionals who knew what they were doing, Mrs Roberts said.

But Danny Coleman, the president of the volunteer committee that runs the Wing Hing Long Museum on behalf of Inverell Council, said it was useless to speculate.

"We've got a lot of interesting things here," he said. "But that rock was a highlight and a lot of people came here and took pictures of it," he said.

From the outside the museum looks as low tech as its age would suggest , but Mr Coleman said security was good and motion sensors 'are everywhere'.

"That's how I was notified," he said. The security company called me, and within minutes I was here because I only live 50 yards away, but they had already gone - so they were well organised. But it is going to be very hard to dispose of unless someone just sits it up in their lounge room."

Inverell Shire Council general manager Paul Henry said while the museum contents are insured, and the stone's value was factored into the value of the total contents, it was not listed separately.

"We've advised our insurers of the theft, and we're awaiting their advice on the implications of that," he said.

Part of a recent upgrade was the installation of the motion sensors, which alerted Mr Coleman to the theft within minutes.

"The next item on the improvement plan was to put in security cameras," Mr Henry said.

If you were in the area or have information call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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