Thieves clean out coin collector; Man spent 30 years amassing collection valued at $50K Brian Kelly Local News - Tuesday, June 05, 2007 @ 00:00 Thieves rolled away with a coin collection Andy Shurtliffe accumulated over 30 years. The Heyden resident's Ulch Road home was one of seven homes and camps entered late Thursday or early Friday. Shurtliffe estimates his collection, which was stored in binders and boxes, is worth more than $50,000. "I pretty much lost everything that I've saved since I was eight years old," said the Zellers worker. "These coins are irreplaceable to me." The theft is so painful Shurtliffe is deliberately avoiding the room in his home where he would spend up to five to six hours a day on weekends tending to his collection. "It's quite a lot of work," he said of his chosen hobby. "It's something you just don't do overnight." Shurtliffe, who has two part-time jobs in addition to his work at Zellers, doubts he'll resume a hobby he considered relaxing and a financial investment in his future. For a man with a modest income, he says it will simply cost too much to try and replace what was stolen. Insurance will only cover a fraction of his collection's worth. "I'm pretty much out everything," said Shurtliffe, who discovered the theft after returning home from work. "I'm out all my coins and 30 years of labour, saving and scrounging. It's not something I wanted to think about." Thieves also snatched his DVDs, tools, a binder largely filled with O Pee Chee hockey cards from 1979 to 1981, including Wayne Gretzky's rookie card and $365 in Canadian Tire money. "I'm pretty much wiped out," hr said. "For someone to come along and just rip everything away from you doesn't make you too happy." Alcohol, weapons, food, swords, knives, electronics and clothing were reported stolen from six other homes on Brooks and Clark roads, Ontario Provincial Police said. More puzzling was the theft of a dozen bottles of laundry soap. All of the residences are near Upper Island Lake. No one reported suspicious vehicles or people to police, said Const. Bill Mackan.
Thieves always steal one thing that makes you go, "huh?" What a terrible story, though. I know my collection is probably worth 1% of that at best, but I would be devastated if that happened to me. I would probably abandon collecting too, as it would be too painful.
Think of this as a reminder to get a good safe and make sure it's properly installed. Hindsight is always 20/20
Terrible... a friend of mine who has a relly nice collection was robbed out once... They didnt get his coins though. (because he keeps it in a safe like was advised here) I have headr about thieves dragging out the safe along with everything else though, so make sure its either really heavy, otherwise bolted to the floor.
That sucks!! Hate people like that. But like it has been said, get a safe and bolt it down and keep it locked!!
Thats so sad! A guy I know had several thousand in gold and silver stolen last year. And to make it worse, he suspects a family member of doing the burglary.
I know, its terrible. Some families are better than others though. I'm pretty confident mine would never f*** me over like that.
This makes me really want to get a safe. I live downtown, and my 'hood isn't exactly free from crime...
Did he have anything really, really rare ? If he did then if it ever comes up then it will solve the problem. If he is on a "modest income" unlikely however.
he should alert the local dealers and check the pawn shops - if someone comes in with a bunch of coins matching the description, it should be a no brainer. a local dealer a few years back received some very rare coins that were stolen from a FedEx truck - they just never arrived at the next terminal. the dealer had video of the guy, a check, and a drivers license - the thief was nabbed, along with his wife - she also worked at FedEx. -Steve
Man, you have to feel sorry for that guy, that was his whole life. As for the safe, as I have is a few fire safes that I keep some of my coins in untill I can get them to the bank box. What one of my friends did, they bought one of those alarm system signs off ebay and put it in his front yard, now it just looks like he has an alarm system.
Also, some people go to Radio Shack and get stickers for their windows. (Not me, I have a real alarm & a pit bull)
