Theft of the golden Leibniz cookie

This gilded brass representation of the Leibniz cookie, created by sculptor Georg Herting around 1910, garnered significant media attention both nationally and internationally.

[1] The stolen item was a gilded brass depiction of a Leibniz cookie, weighing around 20 kilograms, created by the sculptor Georg Herting around 1910, along with the pretzel-shaped figures known as the Brezelmänner (Pretzel Men).

[5] The cookie was eventually found on February 5, tied with a red ribbon, to the bronze statue of the Lower Saxony horse in front of Leibniz University in Hanover.

The State Criminal Police Office of Lower Saxony examined the recovered cookie for fingerprints, DNA, and fiber traces.

[12][13] After the cookie was returned, the Hanover public prosecutor's office reclassified the initially suspected crimes of attempted extortion and theft as property damage.

[16][17] According to the business magazine Markt und Mittelstand, the company appeared in the German daily and weekly press 595 times between January 24, 2013, and February 11, 2013, not including online coverage and social media.

[18][19] The media attention even prompted the producers of Sesame Street to issue a statement via the "real" Cookie Monster's Twitter account, firmly denying any involvement in the case.

In an interview with the magazine, Stephan Rebbe, head of the communications agency working for Bahlsen, reiterated that the theft could not have been used for marketing purposes.