SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Thieves who rammed a stolen SUV into the Wells Fargo History Museum in downtown San Francisco and swiped historic gold nuggets worth roughly $10,000 could face a tough time selling the loot as news of the heist sweeps through the rare metal community, experts say. 
 
 Workers remove a damaged pane of glass at the Wells Fargo History Museum in San Francisco, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. Thieves in a sport utility vehicle smashed through the glass doors of the Wells Fargo... (Associated Press) 
 
 Workers remove a damaged pane of glass at the Wells Fargo History Museum in San Francisco, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. Thieves in a sport utility vehicle smashed through the glass doors of the Wells Fargo... (Associated Press) 
 
 A vehicle is seen smashed into the window of the Wells Fargo History Museum in downtown San Francisco, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. Thieves in the SUV smashed through the glass doors of the museum and made... (Associated Press) 
 
 Workers remove a damaged pane of glass at the Wells Fargo History Museum in San Francisco, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. Thieves in a sport utility vehicle smashed through the glass doors of the Wells Fargo... (Associated Press) 
 
 Dealers will be on the lookout for nuggets with historical significance that suddenly appear on the market, Northern California rare coin dealer Don Kagin said. The three masked men who smashed the glass doors of the museum, held a security guard at gunpoint and stole the gold from a display case early Tuesday may have difficulty selling the nuggets unless they get melted down, he said. 
 
 Melting the precious metal could remove possible markings of the year and place where the nuggets were mined and even the person who unearthed them, said Fred Holabird, a mining geologist and an owner of a rare and unique collectibles business in Reno, Nevada. 
 
 "This is such bad news from my viewpoint," he said, calling the theft a tragedy because of the potential for the gold to lose any historical indicators. 
 
 Both experts did not speculate on the value of the 4 to 10 ounces of gold that police said was worth about $10,000. But Holabird said the nuggets could be worth two to 10 times the value of gold on the open market, an ounce of which sells for about $1,300. 
 
 Selling stolen precious metals is difficult but not impossible. Robbers who swiped $1.3 million in gold, quartz and other valuable metals on display at the California State Mining and Mineral Museum in September 2012 were able to sell about $12,000 worth of gold to pawn shops and dealers, police said. 
 
 Some of the stolen items, including a bag of ground-up quartz, were recovered. Five men were convicted of the heist at the museum in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. 
 
 The three thieves from Tuesday's robbery got away with the gold nuggets in a waiting sedan. 
 
 Wells Fargo spokesman Ruben Pulido said in a statement that the company is grateful no one was injured and no damage came to the historic stagecoaches at the museum, located at the site where Wells Fargo launched in 1852. 
 
 In addition to the stagecoach, used in the 1860s, the museum has a working telegraph and art and historical artifacts on display. 
 
 People walking to work Tuesday morning stopped to snap photos of the SUV wedged in the building's shattered revolving doors, while police surveyed the damage. 
 
 The smash-and-grab tactic has marked other recent heists in San Francisco, including at a Patagonia store near Fisherman's Wharf last week when robbers backed a U-Haul van into the building, loaded it with high-end outdoor clothing and gear, and sped off. ||||| Three people wearing ski masks and armed with at least one gun stole gold nuggets from San Francisco's Wells Fargo History Museum Tuesday morning after they rammed an SUV into the building's entrance. Mark Matthews reports. (Published Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015) 
 
 Three people wearing ski masks and armed with at least one gun stole gold nuggets from San Francisco's Wells Fargo History Museum Tuesday morning after they rammed an SUV into the building's entrance. 
 
 Police said that at least 10 ounces of gold were stolen, valued at about $10,000. 
 
 The robbery took place at about 2:30 a.m. at 420 Montgomery St., where the glass front of the building was left shattered and swarms of police officers were surveying what happened and what was stolen, a police investigator told NBC Bay Area. 
 
 A dark Chevy Suburban was towed away just before 7 a.m. Officer Grace Gatpandan said that the three suspects had ditched the SUV, their faces covered, and held the security guard at gunpoint before taking the gold nuggets from a display case. 
 
 The trio took off in a second vehicle, described as a four-door sedan. Gatpandan said she does not know if this getaway car was waiting for them with another driver inside or if it was strategically parked somewhere. She said the Chevy was stolen from San Bruno. 
 
 Kevin Woodsford, who was on the scene afterwards to replace the glass, has been inside the building before. He noted that the museum has lots of "valuable stuff and antiques you probably can't replace." 
 
 "It's pretty crazy," he said. "It's a bold job to pull off." 
 
 The museum honors Henry Wells and William Fargo, who founded their financial services company in 1852. The museu's website prominently advertises gold nuggets as one of its featured attractions. 
 
 In a statement, Ruben Pulido, a Wells Fargo spokesman said: "We’re disturbed this happened to the Wells Fargo History Museum, but are grateful no team member was harmed. Additionally, the historic stagecoaches on site were not damaged." He vowed the museum would soon reopen. 
 
 Police said they have made no arrests but did not there have been several smash-and-grabs recently in the city. 
 
 Police survey the damage after an SUV rammed into the Wells Fargo Museum. Jan. 27, 2015 
 
 Photo credit: Josh Keppel 
 
 In November, burglars drove a car into the Chanel store off Union Square. Two weeks ago, two men backed a U-Haul van into the Patagonia store near Fisherman’s Wharf. 
 
 “It does not appear that these were related,” San Francisco police spokeswoman Officer Grace Gatpandan said. 
 
 NBC Bay Area's Mark Matthews contributed to this report. ||||| Thieves ram original Wells Fargo in San Francisco, grab gold nuggets 
 
 Video: Gold Heist: Thieves Nab Nuggets From Wells Fargo Museum 
 
 Masked crooks barreled a stolen sport utility vehicle into a museum at the site of the original Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco’s Financial District early Tuesday, but after holding a guard at gunpoint and trampling through history, the robbers failed to make off with the best spoils. 
 
 Leaving their makeshift battering ram behind and jumping into a getaway car, the thieves vanished with gold nuggets and ore worth at most $12,950 on the current market, but left behind priceless artifacts from the Gold Rush era that were at their elbows as they scooped up the gold. 
 
 Among those was an elaborate 1850s gold-weighing scale and a vintage telegraph, not to mention an iconic Wells Fargo stagecoach — pieces with more value to historians and Gold Rush buffs than even the nuggets, experts said. 
 
 Those treasures of time clearly weren’t a priority to snatch, even in pieces, as the hurried bandits in ski masks pulled off the latest of a string of crash-and-grab robberies around the Bay Area involving vehicles being used to loudly pry open the bellies of businesses in the dead of night. 
 
 Tuesday’s attack went down at 2:30 a.m. at 420 Montgomery St., where Wells Fargo launched in 1852. Police said the suspects, wearing hoodies and jeans, plowed a GMC Suburban registered to a Peninsula couple through the museum’s glass revolving doors. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Photo: Kristin Bender, Associated Press Image 1 of / 14 Caption Close Image 1 of 14 A vehicle is seen smashed into the window of the Wells Fargo History Museum in downtown San Francisco, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. Thieves in the SUV smashed through the glass doors of the museum and made off with gold nuggets on display. (AP Photo/Kristin Bender) less A vehicle is seen smashed into the window of the Wells Fargo History Museum in downtown San Francisco, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. Thieves in the SUV smashed through the glass doors of the museum and made off with ... more Photo: Kristin Bender, Associated Press Image 2 of 14 Thieves smashed an SUV into the original Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco, making off with Gold Rush-era nuggets. Thieves smashed an SUV into the original Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco, making off with Gold Rush-era nuggets. Photo: Evan Sernoffsky Image 3 of 14 Museum employees were relieved that this scale used for weighing gold during the Gold Rush was left behind. Museum employees were relieved that this scale used for weighing gold during the Gold Rush was left behind. Photo: Courtesy Of Bob Chandler Image 4 of 14 In this Dec. 13, 2006 photo provided by Mel Fechter is a lobby display case of gold nuggets at the Siskiyou County Courthouse in Yreka, Calif. Shown in the foreground is the keystone of the exhibit, a 28-ounce nugget that is known as the "shoe" or "slipper." Thieves broke into the courthouse early Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012 and stole gold pieces from the display whose total value is estimated at $3 million. County officials and historical experts say the theft of the collection represents an "irreplaceable" loss to the county's cultural identity and past. (AP Photo/Mel Fechter) less In this Dec. 13, 2006 photo provided by Mel Fechter is a lobby display case of gold nuggets at the Siskiyou County Courthouse in Yreka, Calif. Shown in the foreground is the keystone of the exhibit, a 28-ounce ... more Photo: Mel Fechter, Associated Press Image 5 of 14 In this Dec. 13, 2006 photo provided by Mel Fechter is a lobby display case of gold nuggets at the Siskiyou County Courthouse in Yreka, Calif. Thieves broke into the courthouse early Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012 and stole gold pieces from the display whose total value is estimated at $3 million. County officials and historical experts say the theft of the collection represents an "irreplaceable" loss to the county's cultural identity and past. (AP Photo/Mel Fechter) less In this Dec. 13, 2006 photo provided by Mel Fechter is a lobby display case of gold nuggets at the Siskiyou County Courthouse in Yreka, Calif. Thieves broke into the courthouse early Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012 ... more Photo: Mel Fechter, Associated Press Image 6 of 14 Thieves smashed an SUV into the original Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco, making off with Gold Rush-era nuggets. Thieves smashed an SUV into the original Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco, making off with Gold Rush-era nuggets. Photo: Evan Sernoffsky Image 7 of 14 Thieves smashed an SUV into the original Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco, making off with Gold Rush-era nuggets. Thieves smashed an SUV into the original Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco, making off with Gold Rush-era nuggets. Photo: Evan Sernoffsky Image 8 of 14 Thieves smashed an SUV into the original Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco, making off with Gold Rush-era nuggets. Thieves smashed an SUV into the original Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco, making off with Gold Rush-era nuggets. Photo: Evan Sernoffsky Image 9 of 14 Workers remove a damaged pane of glass at the Wells Fargo History Museum in San Francisco, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. Thieves in a sport utility vehicle smashed through the glass doors of the Wells Fargo History Museum in downtown San Francisco and made off with gold nuggets on display. (AP Photo/Stephanie Mullen) less Workers remove a damaged pane of glass at the Wells Fargo History Museum in San Francisco, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. Thieves in a sport utility vehicle smashed through the glass doors of the Wells Fargo History ... more Photo: Stephanie Mullen, Associated Press Image 10 of 14 Workers remove a damaged pane of glass at the Wells Fargo History Museum in San Francisco, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. Thieves in a sport utility vehicle smashed through the glass doors of the Wells Fargo History Museum in downtown San Francisco and made off with gold nuggets on display. (AP Photo/Stephanie Mullen) less Workers remove a damaged pane of glass at the Wells Fargo History Museum in San Francisco, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. Thieves in a sport utility vehicle smashed through the glass doors of the Wells Fargo History ... more Photo: Stephanie Mullen, Associated Press Image 11 of 14 Workers remove a damaged pane of glass at the Wells Fargo History Museum in San Francisco, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. Thieves in a sport utility vehicle smashed through the glass doors of the Wells Fargo History Museum in downtown San Francisco and made off with gold nuggets on display. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) less Workers remove a damaged pane of glass at the Wells Fargo History Museum in San Francisco, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. Thieves in a sport utility vehicle smashed through the glass doors of the Wells Fargo History ... more Photo: Jeff Chiu, Associated Press Image 12 of 14 A sport utility vehicle sits in the doorway of the Wells Fargo History Museum in S.F. after robbers smashed the glass and stole some gold nuggets and ore. A sport utility vehicle sits in the doorway of the Wells Fargo History Museum in S.F. after robbers smashed the glass and stole some gold nuggets and ore. Photo: Kristin Bender / Associated Press Image 13 of 14 This courtesy photo dated March 28, 2014, from retired Wells Fargo historian Bob Chandler shows a historic gold scale inside its glass display case at the Wells Fargo Museum in San Francisco, California. The glass case was smashed in a robbery that occurred on Tuesday, January 27, 2015 but the priceless scale was not stolen. less This courtesy photo dated March 28, 2014, from retired Wells Fargo historian Bob Chandler shows a historic gold scale inside its glass display case at the Wells Fargo Museum in San Francisco, California. The ... more Photo: Bob Chandler / Courtesy Of Bob Chandler Image 14 of 14 Thieves ram original Wells Fargo in San Francisco, grab gold nuggets 1 / 14 Back to Gallery 
 
 A responding security guard was held at gunpoint but was not injured before the robbers fled in a four-door sedan, possibly a Ford Taurus. After they left, at least one loose nugget could be seen amid the disarray of the crime scene. 
 
 Shock and consolation 
 
 Along with shock, Robert Chandler, a retired historian for Wells Fargo and an authority on Western history, actually felt consolation Tuesday. 
 
 “When we found out they smashed the gold scale case, I was so worried, but I’m relieved they didn’t take the scale itself,” Chandler said. “It’s been in that museum since it opened ... and it has far more significance than any nuggets they had there.” 
 
 The 2-foot-high brass and copper scale was made by the Howard and Davis company of Boston and was used at the height of the California Gold Rush when Wells Fargo was crafting its reputation as the foremost authority for banking and weighing gold dug from the Sierra Nevada. 
 
 The ripped-off nuggets and ore might be worth at least five times as much if they were able to be fenced for their historical value as Gold Rush-era artifacts — but that’s highly unlikely, said Don Kagin, a Tiburon gold and coin dealer who just published the book “Profit from Gold and Rare Coins Now.” 
 
 That’s because Kagin and every other dealer of note is already sending out notices of the theft to professional associations and sellers around the world. If the gold shows up on the market, it is likely to raise alarms. 
 
 “We check the background of historical gold, and nuggets are like rare coins — they’re worth more depending on the pedigree,” said Kagin. “They are artifacts; they tell a story. They’re more interesting than just plain gold.” 
 
 The thieves may try to pass the gold off as historic, but not from Wells Fargo. Otherwise they will have to sell it for meltdown price. 
 
 A meltdown sale may have been the fate of about $1 million in historic gold nuggets — 750 ounces worth — taken from the Siskiyou County courthouse in Yreka in 2012, the biggest such burglary in recent years. Two Bay Area men are doing prison time for the heist, but they never revealed what became of the gold. 
 
 “That gold is either out of the country or melted down, and I believe it will never be recovered,” said Lisa Gioia, director of the Siskiyou County Museum. “It’s just terrible. That gold was worth a lot more than monetary value. It was our heritage. And now it’s just gone.” 
 
 Museum will be back 
 
 Wells Fargo said little Tuesday about the robbery, but spokesman Ruben Pulido issued a statement saying, “We’re disturbed this happened to the Wells Fargo History Museum, but are grateful no team member was harmed.” He said the museum, a popular attraction for schoolchildren that was redesigned last year, will reopen once the damage is cleared. 
 
 Crash-and-grab robberies like Tuesday’s, in which criminals use a vehicle bumper instead of a crowbar, have been snaring headlines in recent months, but there was no immediate word on whether the thieves in a past heist may have struck again. 
 
 On Jan. 19, crooks backed a U-Haul van through the front of the Patagonia store near San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf, loaded it with pricey goods and sped off, authorities said. In a pair of November heists in the city’s Union Square, burglars busted into luxury boutiques — Chanel and Prada — and made off with handbags. 
 
 In 2013, thieves plowed a pickup into a Tiffany and Co. in Walnut Creek, while in May, someone crashed a Pontiac Grand Am into an Apple Store in Berkeley. No arrests have been announced in any of the cases. 
 
 'People are crazy’ 
 
 People walking past the ravaged Wells Fargo entry early Tuesday stepped over piles of broken glass, many snapping pictures while staring quizzically at the wreckage of the audacious crime. 
 
 “People seem to be driving cars into things all the time in San Francisco,” said Justin Hogsett, who works at a nearby restaurant and ventured over to the museum after hearing about the burglary. 
 
 “This is terrible,” said Justin Flores, 42, who has worked maintenance in a building across the street from the museum for eight years. “It’s a museum. People are crazy. They have no respect. This is where schools come on field trips.” 
 
 Chandler, the Wells Fargo historian, said Tuesday’s robbery was probably the first time gold thieves have hit a Wells Fargo bank of any kind — museum though it is — since the 1930s. 
 
 He was confident, however, that the same bank whose investigators nailed stagecoach bandit Black Bart in 1883 — in San Francisco — will get the bad guys this time, too. 
 
 “I’ve got three comments,” Chandler said. “This is personal. Hang the bastards. And Wells Fargo never forgets.” 
 
 Evan Sernoffsky and Kevin Fagan are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. E-mail: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com, kfagan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky, @KevinChron
– Talk about brazen: Masked thieves smashed a stolen SUV into the site of Wells Fargo's original bank in San Francisco early this morning and made off with historic gold ore and nuggets, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Wearing hoodies and ski masks, they broke into display cases at the Wells Fargo History Museum and grabbed up to 10 ounces in nuggets worth around $10,000, notes the AP. They also held a security guard at gunpoint before driving off in a four-door getaway car. "This is terrible," says a maintenance worker across the street. "It’s a museum. People are crazy. They have no respect. This is where schools come on field trips." The robbers may struggle to profit without melting the nuggets, according to a rare coin dealer who says other dealers now know about the heist. But melting them would mean ruining possible markings about when and where each nugget was mined, and by whom, adds a mining geologist: "This is such bad news from my viewpoint," he says. On the bright side, NBC Bay Area reports that no one was hurt and historic stagecoaches at the museum weren't damaged. But the Bay Area has seen similar smash-and-grabs lately, including a U-Haul backed into a Patagonia store in January and a Pontiac Grand Am plowed into an Apple Store in May.