How should coin dealers address thefts by other dealers?

I was set up as a dealer at a very slow show around 10 years ago where I let a "dealer" look through some silver coins. He was the only dealer that I dealt with at that show. Subsequently I found three gold coins missing. When I contacted the show manager subsequently, he said it was my own fault, I shouldn't have been so trusting, careless, etc.. I have spoken to other dealers who have been robbed by other dealers and have not used law enforcement to file a complaint, etc.. How do you prove it?

What should be procedure in cases like this?

 

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I'm not a dealer, but I would think that it would be wise to have a detailed inventory of all that you take to a show in the event of robbery. It can be a touchy situation if you accuse him and can't prove it because you would open yourself to a lawsuit. It's unfortunate, but I guess it's one of those live-and-learn things.

Chris

 

Fear is never a good reason to prevent us from doing the right thing.

You go to the police with a description of the suspected dealer. They at least will now have a record. If you get sued it is going to cost the opposing party a lot of money to do this, and if he/she has a police record, the judge will take this into consideration. We need to stop shrugging our shoulders when ripped off.

 

Without proof allegations that a person is a thief can also bring about charges of slander.

Oh and if he was only looking at some silver coins how would he have made the gold coins disappear?
Sounds like someone was not preforming due diligence maybe.

 

I'm not talking about fear. I'm talking about common sense. If you accuse him, he's arrested and it can't be proven in a court of law, then you have handed him the lawsuit on a silver platter all documented by the courts.

Chris

 

You can report the theft to the police. If the police take a statement from you, you can state the name of the last person that touched your coins before you noticed the theft, without accusing this person. It would be up to the police if they want to follow up with this person. However, since recoveries are few & far between, I’d watch your coins more closely.

 

Keep closer watch on your property and supervise any handlings ESPECIALLY when gold is involved. Don't trust ANYONE!! As a small business owner I know that to be gospel!

 

This is precisely why "guilty until proven innocent" is a crock ... that, and that stupid 5th amendment - you know, the one plead only by the guilty, the criminal and the coward!

 

Timeliness is obviously critical, the sooner the better. And I do not understand the reluctance to pursue such cases, is it the fear that the accused dealer may retaliate by spilling the beans on the accuser?

So you speak with the show manager, then follow it up with a call to the police, either at their headquarters or at the show. They make a record of the complaint and where it goes from there is anyone's guess. Probably ICTA and the numismatic crimes center would give good guidance on proceedure.

 

It's fear of the legal system - which (as we all know) favours the guilty over the victim.

 

Okay, you let him look at silver coins.........


and the missing pieces were gold.......


so, what makes you certain that it was him?

 

He was the only guy who looked at the coins. The coins went from my apartment to the coin show and back. Other than the coin show, no one had access to the coins.

The coins he asked to look at were silver coins from the 1950s and sixties. He took a long time to go through it. I was not looking over him all the time, my bad.

I know how serious charges of theft are. A false accusation bears a serious burden with it as do true accusations.

Content Edited as per rules.

But as for not carefully guarding your valuables at every point, theft is still theft, whether the thief had an easy time of acquiring his/her booty or mortal combat. Every civilization has condemned stealing as punishable by the magistrates.

 

The Bible has nothing to do with this topic/thread. Please no more Bible quotes.

 

Religion??

 

Well this fell off the deep end........

 

You lost me at Deuteronomy....

 

I could make a joke but I really wanna stay out of the religion stuff over here. But it does suck when people rob you

 

I was asked how I knew who it was who had stolen the coins, and I gave the basis for my assertion. I don't need to apologize for how the law over 3000 years ago tried transgressors. If I had quoted ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, etc. would it have been seen as "religious"?

It would be interesting to compare such traditions of law and they were full of gods and deities.
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'Has he drawn false boundaries?' (Babylonian. List of Sins. ERE v. 446)
'To wrong, to rob, to cause to be robbed.' (Babylonian. Ibid.)
'I have not stolen.' (Ancient Egyptian. Confession of the Righteous Soul. ERE v. 478)
'Thou shalt not steal.' (Ancient Jewish. Exodus 20:15)
'Choose loss rather than shameful gains.' (Greek. Chilon Fr. 10. Diels)
'Justice is the settled and permanent intention of rendering to each man his rights.' (Roman. Justinian, Institutions, I. i)
'If the native made a "find" of any kind (e.g., a honey tree) and marked it, it was thereafter safe for him, as far as his own tribesmen were concerned, no matter how long he left it.' (Australian Aborigines. ERE v. 441) 'The first point of justice is that none should do any mischief to another unless he has first been attacked by the other's wrongdoing. The second is that a man should treat common property as common property, and private property as his own. There is no such thing as private property by nature, but things have become private either through prior occupation (as when men of old came into empty territory) or by conquest, or law, or agreement, or stipulation, or casting lots.' (Roman. Cicero, De Off. I. vii)
[h=3][/h]
Probably the Roman law is the closest to our own in the ancient world. Relevance? It would make an interesting topic, just as there are experts in ancient coins there are no doubt experts in how various legal practices have been followed in various civilizations.

 

I do believe when you signed up it said no talking about religion or politics