A serendipitous turn of events

[williamcohon]

My friend and I live in the Seattle area, and have been card-collecting buddies since the 80's. Today, when he came home from work, he discovered that he had been robbed. It seems clear that the thief knew what he was after, because he took only one box - the one with the oldest and most valuable cards. He left my friend's sets, and other items of value. He didn't even take the brand new iMac computer, sitting in plain view.

My friend lost 209 cards. I don't know if it is conceivable that he will ever get them back, but it seems like it can't hurt to alert this forum. I have an inventory of his lost cards on an Excel spreadsheet. Is it possible to post it somehow? Or, I could send it to anyone who is interested.

My friend is heartbroken. And I'm sure we all hurt a little bit for him. Suggestions are welcome.

[T206Collector]

You can certainly list the cards. You also would get more attention with a better subject to the thread, like "Attention! Stolen Baseball Cards!"

[zljones]

I think it is time for him to reflect upon whom he showed his collection to. This seems like a robbery that the burgler knew exactly what to look for. It is indeed strange that the burgler took nothing else at all. Since the burgler took only that one particular box of cards. Then they not only knew there were cards there, but they new exactly what box of cards to take. Where the Police called? Did the person break in in the same room as the cards they stole? Did the burgler rummage through anything else at all, or go straight for that box and leave? I think it is time to begin analyzing the people that knew of his collection, and what it contained. I tell my closest of friends not to tell random people about my collection nor do I post anything on Facebook because I want to avoid situations like this.
Another question, was he out of town when it happened? Maybe someone he knew, knew exactly when he would not be home?

[barrysloate]

The thief was so specific with what he took that there is likely a clue there. The crook knew before he entered exactly what he wanted.

[sycks22]

You could also alert PSA / SGC with the descriptions of any of the cards if they were unique (printing dots / where the creases were / etc). Were any of the cards graded? That wouldn't be hard to track them down if they ever come up for sale at any auction house or ebay. I hope your buddy can get his cards back.

[mintacular]

Even though my cards are locked and secure, I still have added piece of mind w insurance from CollectInsure, which runs me about $50/year and only took me 15 minutes to fill out the forms, etc. I know in the event that the cards would be stolen that while the $ could not "replace" them it would allow me to try. So if you have a collection of value you really should look into this, sorry about your friend's robbery