Stolen at coin club auction!!!

At our coin club meeting two weeks ago, I was a victim of theft. We have an auction after each meeting, and members can sell up to 10 lots. This night was particularly crowded, and my last 3 lots didn't fit on the table, so I put it on the chair next to the table. The chair was double stacked, so it was approximately the same hight as the table. My last 3 lots were a P&D set of Lincoln dollar coins, a BU roll of Ocean in View nickels, and a series 2006 Radar note ($1).

After the meeting and before the auction, we give everyone 5 minutes to get one last look at the items before the bidding starts. My lots were there as we anounced the 5 minutes. About 10 minutes into the auction I happed to look over and those three lots were gone. I made a plea, but no one fessed up. Only club members were there, although there MAY have been a couple of children of club members. That is what really pi$$es me off about this.....it had to be a club member who did it (or the possibility of one of the 10-12 year old children...but I never saw them up there). At the end of the auction, the club members felt bad that something like this happened and several members through in a couple of bucks to meet my minimum bids (I think it was about $9.50 that they gave me). That was nice, but it doesn't make up for the bad feeling this gave me. I had much more expensive items on the table....luckily those weren't taken. Club members told me that this hadn't happened in the 10 years that they had been coming.


I hate thieves.....

 

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That totally sucks...I'm very sorry this happened to you.

 

That is terrible. Unfortunately, when you get a group of people together you run the risk of having a dishonest person in the group. You hate to assume the worst about people and treat everyone like a potential thief but perhaps at future meetings your club should have someone whose job it is to keep an eye on the auction items. (And then you have to wonder if you can trust him.)

 

i hate thieves with a vengeance, for someone from your own club to do this at a meeting is the lowest of the low.

 

This news is very distressing to hear and I am so sorry to hear of your loss. The thought of a thief at your club meeting is very disturbing. You would think that you are surrounded with people who hold the same interests as you and they should contain the same values as you also. What a creepy feeling. This is the first time I have ever heard of this at a coin club meeting. Now I've heard it all. At least some others came through and gave you some reparations for your loss. You must feel just awful. I hope that you are still going to continue to attend the meetings. It would be a shame if the thief or thieves actions have jaded you about the coin club entirely. If so they have won and you have lost. Try to keep a positive attitude and make sure that an announcement is presented to the club in the next meeting. Hopefully the culprit will stop stealing, but I doubt you will ever get back your coins. Once again, I'm so sorry.

 

Sorry to hear that this happened to you. You said it was crowded, so perhaps a non-member got in unnoticed and took the items. Regardless, I hope it does not tarnish your view of the club as a whole. If it was a member, it was probably only one person.

TC

 

Sorry about your loss. Again, the act of betrayal is even worse than the theft. That thief stole much more than a few coins. He/she has violated the environment of trust and camraderie that brings fellow collectors together in a club. Who wants to go to a coin club meeting when you know an active thief is prowling around the room?
You might want to consider setting up a sting operation to catch the sucker. I'd think long and hard about bringing any of my coins back until he was caught.

 

I am sorry to read of your experience. And it also is angering to me. Why would someone do that, particularly in an environment of like-minded club members? And now, you not only lost your coins, but also a bit of trust has been stolen from you too! Once that is gone, I don't believe it returns. All disappointing..
Lucy

 

Somebody who steals $10 worth of stuff when more valuable items are available is either a child or a mentally disturbed adult.

If you've known the members for a long while, it seems likely to me that either one of the kids did it, or one of your fellows is under exceptional stress. Anybody recently go through a bitter divorce, get laid off, have a close relative die, etc? People experiencing such events sometimes engage in petty thefts as a form of tension release.

 

I'm very sorry that this happened to you, but don't write off the club membership too quickly. You already said that it was crowded, and unless you have security posted at the door, it could have been anyone who did it. At the next meeting, maybe you should raise this issue and measures could be put in place to protect others from having this happen.

Chris

 

I have only been a member of this club for just short of two years. I am currently the vice president and was asked to stay on (instalation is next month). When it happened, I was so angry that I was not going to do it and may not have gone back. However, the unsolicited response of people chipping in a few bucks to cover my minimums renewed my outlook to the positive. Oh, the money didn't cover what the items would have sold for, but it was close....but the gesture was the key. We had another meeting 2 days ago and several people spoke out about it (including me). But you are right, the trust I have with the group has been stolen because somewhere there is a thief. Everyone now is watching the items in the auction each meeting...

 

Thats rough Bob. On a positive note, the heightened security will help prevent it from happening in the future. So thankfully it was a fairly low value lesson. If you know what I mean.

 

Man, that's like taking money from the collection plate when it comes to you. What a bummer. I think Hobo has a good suggestion about someone to keep an eye on things.

 

Unfortunately this type of thing happens from time to time. Check out the case in the thread below:

Florida Coin Dealer Arrested For Theft From Other Dealers

 

I understand how you feel, its the feeling of getting stolen from that is worst than the actual loss.

In my old coin club, we did have a person responsible for oversight of auction items. It worked pretty well, we gave auction items to him, he arranged them after the meeting and made sure everything got trued up. I usually brought something to sell for the coin club just so the club and this club officer would benefit by the whole arrangement.

 

Truly sorry this happened to you. It shouldnt happen to anyone. Truly hate when the peace and serenity of somene's space is violated. Just an aweful feeling. Truly sorry for you.

 

I'm sorry to hear about that!

I'm thinking about selling a few silver medals that I purchased recently (1.2 ounce sterling) at a club auction and would appreciate any pointers you have. Do you think I would do well selling them individually or in sets of 2, 3, or 4? What start price would you recommend at a club auction?

Are there any mistakes that you've seen sellers commit at these auctions? I've been to a couple of different clubs, and each one seems to have different levels of auction viability.

At one club, no one seems to start the auctions at a reasonable level (or puts very high reserves) and almost no bidding seems to go on. At another, all of the items tend to be premium items (someone brought a slabbed 1909-S penny with a $1300 start price) with nothing for shallow pocketed bidders.

 

It's really messed up when something like that happens and you know it had to be somebody connected to the hobby but what are you gonna do? All you can do is try to get your stuff back but don't expect too much. It happened at my coin club around a couple of months ago and nobody can remember it ever happening up until that point. It happened to a really nice guy too. Just goes to show you that some collectors are ripoffs!! That's the botttom line and it's really unfortunate but it goes with everything else as well. Prolly some youngster, meaning somebody's young kid. IDK

 

Wow! That's unbelievable!

 

Our coin club auction has high end, low end and middle of the road as well. It is really a nice little auction with GREAT variety. The items that go the highest seem to be priced below market as multiple bidders get involved in the bidding and drive it up. Good luck.