Help With Stolen Collection Please Read

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Posted By: Robert Craik

A friend of mine had his card collection stolen from his home between last Thursday morning and Friday night while he was out of town. Taken was +- 30 binders of baseball, football and basketball sets from 1955 until late 1970’s. These were all raw cards, in binders, and my compulsive friend even had the players in team order.
I realize this is out the realm of what we collect here, but I also realize our interests reach long and far across the card collecting community. Despite our sometimes differences we watch out for our own.
My friend lives in Westlake Village California and he has already hit all of the local shops and made a police report. He is also offering a one thousand dollar ($1,000.00) cash reward for the collection’s safe return, no questions asked.
If any of you hear of large collections of this nature being offered, any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks very much.
Bob
RBCraik@aol.com

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Posted By: Matt

Bob - wow. That sucks. Was there forced entry?

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Posted By: Robert Craik

Matt,
I don't know I will ask. He did tell me that from tire tracks left behind they backed a car onto the front lawn and the cards went out the front door.

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Posted By: Josh

I will let you know. I live in Santa Barbara and my friend owns the local card shop here. I will let him know if someone tries to sell some stuff there. They may try to come up this way and unload the stuff who knows....

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Posted By: leon

What kind of car do you drive? (just kidding)...

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Posted By: Robert Craik

Cute Leon...I live in the desert...we still drive camels out here

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Posted By: Chris Counts

Robert,

Were there any particular unusual or unique cards in the heist? Maybe some West Coast regionals or something? It's easier to keep an eye out for a 1962 Bell Brand than a 1962 Topps. I have quite a few oddball cards, as well as some with pinholes or tape stains that I could identify from an eBay scan (I also scan all my cards). For instance, a few of my cards were recently stolen from a card shop in Carmel, CA, where they were consigned. While most were 50s and 60s Topps, I had a sharp-cornered 1940 Play Ball Willard Herschberger in the group. Because you don't see them too often, the Herschberger is the card I keep searching for on eBay, and it's the card I've told local dealers about ...

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Posted By: Anonymous

-Josh, thanks for the shout out it's apprecated.

-Chris no odd cards to speak of. Just the unique way they are stored (in binders by team).

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Posted By: Fred C

Were the cards the only thing stolen? The reason I ask is because if they were then I'm guessing the thief/thieves know what they have and they will repackage it. If the cards were stolen with a lot of other things then the thief/thieves may not understand that the cards in team order will be easier to find. Chris had a good question - it's just too bad that there weren't any tough odd ball items to watch out for. I kind of like the old west justice. I kind of like what they do in the desert across the sea. Cut off the stupid SOB(s) right hand if they catch them.

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Posted By: Anonymous

Fred - Only cards and check book were stolen

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Posted By: Marty

I will look while I am set up at the Cow Palace later this month. You could have him contact Tri-Star so that they could notify all the dealers when the come in to set up. There is also a show in San Jose the next weekend.
Marty

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Posted By: J Levine

Bob,
I contacted the locals in Santa Clarita this week as well...they will call if anything comes in.

Joshua

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Posted By: Brian Koyama

Also check the local shows like Frank and Sons (held every Wed and Sat) since that should be an easy place to try and unload a bunch of cards with over a hundred dealers setup there.

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Posted By: Alan U

Not sure if this was mentioned before, but might want to alert local pawn shops too.

-Alan

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Posted By: Anonymous

Thanks very much for the input & assistance. Good information and I have passed on all of this to the collector.
So far nothing has surfaced. We shall see.

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Posted By: Chris Counts

I recently met a collector from back east who had a large part of his vintage St. Louis Cardinals collection ripped off. The thieves drove a couple states away and unloaded the stuff at an antique mall. The reason I bring this up is that the way they caught the guys was by checking the collector's phone records. While he was on vacation, the thieves called his home phone several times to make sure nobody was home. The police traced the call to a local motel, where the thieves were registered. They also called his work, and were amazingly told by his secretary that the collector was on vacation ...