Long story short. A tourist was in my shop selling me coins late Tuesday, November 8. Early Wednesday a $650+ pcgs Saint G. was missing. I looked everywhere but no luck. The last person I showed it too was this tourist. Because I bought coins from him I had his name/addy, DL number, etc. I phoned a couple of other local shops in the area and explained the situation, still thinking that maybe I was nuts and it will turn up somewhere. But then Friday morning another Orlando area shop called and said Mr. X had been in with my slabbed saint trying to sell it, although they were unable to buy it. My description of the customer and coin were an exact match. At this point there was no doubt whatsoever that the guy had stolen the coin somehow right out from under my nose. I notified the local police dept, filed a report with Mr. X's info and phoned MANY more central FL area dealers. Sure enough early this morning (Saturday) a Sanford, FL dealer and longtime friend called me and said he had an appt with Mr. X in his shop at 10am to look at a pcgs St G. Great! My friend contacted his local PD and my local PD. The Sanford FL police were waiting nearby and once the coin was presented for sale they came into the shop and detained Mr. X. I was already enroute there, just a few minutes away. Once I got there and identified the coin they immediately cuffed him and took a written statement from me, then off he went to the pokey. There was actually another coin of mine that I hadn't even realized was missing. Somehow this character had stolen two coins from right in front of me. And I am NOT new to this business so I watch people pretty closely! Turns out this guy had a warrant in another state AND was on probation for...you guessed it...dealing in stolen property! This is a bad guy and I'm glad that I was able to take part in getting him off the streets. I don't know when I'll get my coins back but at least now they're in a police evidence vault. Also, I should mention that I've set aside the coins that I bought from Mr. X, since they may have been stolen, too. Today was an awesome example of how we in the hobby can work together with each other and the various law enforcement agencies to stop this from happening. PLEASE. If you own valuable coins, photograph them...scan them or just color copy them if nothing else. Without proper documentation and an easily identifiable coin this guy could have gotten away. Nick Boyd tradernick
Glad to hear it worked out for ya Nick. Must admit, since I've seen how you handle things in your shop I'm a bit surprised he was able to get away with it at all. Goes to show ya I guess that you can never be too careful.
I have a curious question. I recently had to have a painting appraised (so I could add it to my insurance policy) and the appraiser that came out took pictures but with a 35mm camera (one with film, not digital). I questioned the appraiser and she said that a digital picture was not evidence because a digital picture can be 'edited'. Has anyone come across this situation with coins? I have taken pictures of all my coins but with a digital camera and I wonder if I should do the same with a 'film' camera
Film photos can be edited too - it's just more complicated and requires more skill and experience than using Photoshop.
You can scan the photo edit away w/photoshop and then print as many as you want using photographic paper. It won't match the negatives though... Bone
With slabbed coins it wouldn't really matter - serial numbers & barcodes. With raw coins - I don't know that you get a good enough and large enough pic with film to identify a coin. I never could.
