It is perhaps the most famous bird in cinematic history, and was dubbed “the stuff that dreams are made of” by the fictional sleuth Sam Spade, played in the film The Maltese Falcon by the legendary Humphrey Bogart.

Now, just as Bogart’s character Sam Spade plied the streets of San Francisco searching for the valuable sculpture in the 1941 film of Dashiell Hammett’s novel, modern-day detectives are combing the streets of San Francisco trying to locate the whereabouts of a replica of the iconic statuette after it was stolen from its nest in the weekend.

The Maltese Falcon has, over the last 65-odd years since being immortalised on the silver screen by Bogart, become inextricably linked to the Maltese islands.

The stolen replica is a signed plaster reproduction used for publicity stills for the movie.

The owner has offered a $25,000 reward for the return of the statuette and books.

Today also marks the anniversary of the novel’s publication in 1930.

The original Maltese Falcon, used as a prop in the film, rests on a perch at the Warner Bros. movie museum, while a second original is owned by a private collector and is said to be worth close to $2 million.

The film’s producers had to cast a second original after Bogart dropped the first while filming, and dents on the statuette’s tail feathers still bear witness to Bogart’s bout of clumsiness.

The replica was stolen, along with copies of The Maltese Falcon signed by Hammett himself, from its nest within a glass display cabinet at the San Francisco landmark restaurant John’s Grill.

The statuette was signed and given 13 years ago to the restaurant by actor Elisha Cook Jr, a San Franciscan who played the role of Wilmer the Gunsel in the film, after restaurant owner John Konstin and private investigator Jack Immendorf failed in an attempt to buy the original bird used in the movie.

The pair had bid as high as $150,000 for one of the 50-pound lead originals, which had been owned by actor William Conrad, but was eventually sold to a jeweller for over $500,000.

The replica statuette is estimated to be worth just $2,500, while the books are thought to be worth some $5,000 to $6,000.

The restaurant is located next door to Hammett’s former office, where he is said to have penned The Maltese Falcon, the screenplay which later became considered the quintessential film noir, and Hammett had included a reference to the restaurant as the place where Sam Spade ordered his “chops, baked potato and sliced tomato”.

While the origins of the name Maltese Falcon are obscure, it is thought that Hammett had been inspired by the Kniphausen Hawk statuette, a ceremonial pouring vessel made in 1697 for George William von Kniphausen, Count of the Holy Roman Empire – a hawk perched on a rock encrusted with red garnets, amethysts, emeralds and blue sapphires.

The vessel is currently owned by the Duke of Devonshire and forms part of the Chatsworth collection.