A valuable baby grand piano has been stolen in broad daylight from Toronto General Hospital.

Three men walked into the Peter Munk Wing last week with a dolly and walked out with the Boston Steinway baby grand piano worth $27,000 at 12:51 p.m. on July 14.

Head of security at Toronto General Hospital, Todd Milne, was shocked that volunteers did not notice the piano was missing for four days.

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"I've been managing security since 1999, and have not experienced a theft as ballsy and as crazy as this one," Mr. Milne said.

Mr. Milne said staff saw the suspects with the piano and when they asked them what they were doing, the three men replied they were taking it for tuning.

"If you don't know anything about pianos, you don't know that the tuners come to the piano," he said.

Members of the Canadian Opera Company and other performers used the piano once a week to entertain participants in the Healing Journey program, an emotional support system for cancer patients and their families. The piano was donated to the volunteer program in 2006, and Mr. Milne said he believes it was new at the time.

"It's not a make we see very often," said Wijnand Dorn who has been selling pianos for 10 years in the Greater Toronto Area.

Selling a high-quality piece like a Boston Steinway is not an easy undertaking because of its craftsmanship, and price. The store where he works does not sell pianos on consignment because of insurance issues, but some stores would, he said.

Mr. Dorn also explained that serial numbers in difficult-to-reach places make the pianos harder to sell on any market.

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The head of security at TGH was able to identify three suspects using security footage.

All three are about 25 years old. The first is described as white, 5'11", 190 pounds with blond short hair. He was wearing a black T-shirt, blue jeans and black shoes. The second is described as black, with black hair. He was wearing a white and blue striped shirt with brown shorts, a dark baseball cap and dark shoes. The third, whose image was less clear on the security footage, is white with black hair.

Images of the suspects can be found on the Toronto Police Service web site.