https://www.barrierestarjournal.com/local-news/found-collectors-coin-and-stamp-collection/ It makes you wonder how many coins and collectibles are lost in police storage's the world over.
True, that is kinda strange, as if the titles of the old blue Whitman folders were some great state secret.
They are obviously stolen recovered. They are trying to locate the owners before they are sold off. Several Police Forces over here have eBay accounts and sell off found,stolen/ recovered items. Coins, jewellry, phones, cars, TV's just about everything that is recovered from criminals apart from drugs and counterfeit items are sold. I've had some good stuff from them in the past.
I often wonder what happens to collections lost because of fire, floods, and tornados. Same goes for coin shops.
Unfortunately, a lot of coins that are stolen are never returned to the owner. In some cases coins were stolen long ago never get claimed because the person has died or they were stolen by a family member and the owner doesn't want to report it. Sometimes people don't even know their coins were stolen or don't realize it for a very long time.
Then there is the problem that say you collection was stolen in Ohio, and the police recovered it in Alabama, the police would most likely never have any clue where it was stolen, and the owner would have no idea it was ever recovered. The chances of the two ever coming together is slight.
If coins have been "found" and IF they get their way to law enforcement, even if the coin owners are alive, I doubt what is left is not worth very much. The floods, tornados and other blows to "Mother Earth" will take a great many things before all of the damage on the west coast with fires and floods and the East coast with tornados, hurricanes, floods, no electricity or water. Hospitals are being closed and the residents are being turned out from the hospitals. Here in the south east in North Carolina, our problem is electricity. We have hog parlors and turkey parlors that are being left to their demise. The man that takes care of our yards in both of our homes also works as a Captain in a prison. He and his wife decided not to get the inoculations. About 2 weeks ago he came down with Covid, but he kept working. He is about 6'4" and about 250 pounds. He was a lucky one. About a week later, his wife said that she wasn't feeling well, and shortly, she told him that she should go to the hospital. She was also with Covid. She was immediately put in the ICU. The next morning, she died. We have gotten very close to our yard man. We treated both of them like our children, and they had 3 sons that called us Ma and Pa. Jamie (our yard man) called us and we wear and still are in shock. The boys are high school age and they broke down and cried. I bring this up, because homes are being deserted and people that had never broken any laws are breaking into home in the North East, i.e. New York and New Jersey and other states. People are breaking into homes for food. A gun shop was broken into and all the guns were taken. (All of the coins were broken down and disabled. If it's a matter of your life or your collections, protect yourself and your family. Coins can be replaced, but your family cannot. Our prayers are with you. Stay safe and may your God protect you.
When I first started with the Sheriff's department, I worked the property warehouse and saw thousands of things that thieves thought they could sell. It's even worse now with the druggies taking anything not glued down. Coins were usually removed from any albums or other containers, so were loose. I ran across a few gold coins that were in TPG slabs, but not many. Once a year, we held an auction of released items. These were items from adjudicated cases where the true owners could no be located. What really broke my heart, was when the sheriff of the time, refused to let us sell any weapons, so I cried as matched Colts in a red velvet case was sent to the metal grinder, along with other collectible guns. We took all weapons to a huge metal recycling (read that as junk yard) company and had to watch as each item was ground to little pieces to verify they were indeed destroyed.
that is quite sad...when anything of beauty to be destroyed like that...when the sash for clunkers was going on i saw many fine used autos get sand put into the engines, and then put into the crusher, tires and all...what a waste..people 20 years from now will have a bear of a time getting used parts for sure..
Yes I saw an article awhile back where someone, i don't remember if it was a private individual or a museum, brought over for an exhibition a set of figurines, 300 years old, that had carved ivory heads and hands. They ran afoul of the ivory importation ban. Customs wouldn't let them in. They also would not let them back out. They made them take a pair of pliers and crush the hands and head of every figure.
I suppose for liability reasons they have to destroy the good stuff be it coins, guns, figurines etc.
History will not be kind to these decisions. I understand the reason for the bans but what's done is done. Focus the efforts on protecting the elephants where they live. Not the airport looking for 300 year old artifacts but I'm sure that's a lot easier.
