Gold replica of the 1969 Lunar Excursion Module. (Xinhua/Wapakoneta Police Department)

WASHINGTON, July 29 (Xinhua) -- A rare, solid gold replica of the 1969 Lunar Excursion Module that landed on the moon has been stolen from a museum in the U.S. state of Ohio, local police said Saturday.

Police in Wapakoneta, Ohio, said in a press release that it received a call of burglary alarm at the Armstrong Air and Space Museum just before midnight Friday.

The police found that the gold replica, which measures about five inches (12.7 cm) high and roughly 4.5 inches square (29 cm square), has been stolen, according to the release.

"This piece is very rare as it was presented to Neil Armstrong in Paris, France shortly after the moon landing," the press release said. "This piece is one of only three to exist. One was made for each of the three astronauts that completed this mission."

The replica was made by Cartier in Paris and police said its value cannot be determined.

In a statement posted on Facebook, the museum said: "Theft from a museum is a theft from all of us ... For every day that an item is missing, we are all robbed of an opportunity to enjoy it and our history."

Armstrong, born in Wapakoneta in 1930, was the first man to walk on the moon in a 1969 mission that also included Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. Armstrong died in 2012 at the age of 82.