Stolen collection - Vista California 1 1

[blazingbob]

Morning all.  

I am posting this for a customer of mine who had his collection stolen out of a storage locker in Vista, CA.  The books are pretty much all CGC 8.5's that were cracked out and labels were kept in the back of the book.

 

I do not have any scans but feel free to contact the owner.

 

The books may have been stolen as far back as Sept 2020.

 

Feel free to contact the owner if you have any leads or may have seen some of the books offered for sale. 

 

Thank you.  

 

Bob

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Brown, Randy <randyb@alumni.caltech.edu>
To: HighGradeComics. com <bobstorms@highgradecomics.com>
Sent: Mon, Apr 5, 2021 6:08 pm
Subject: Seeking to recover high-grade silver age collection
 

Hi Bob,

I hope you are doing well.

It's been years since we've seen each other but I have bought (and enjoyed) many books from you over the years.  I have some sad news to report.  Someone has broken into one of my storage facilities and stolen half my collection of high-grade silver/bronze comics.  I don't know where they might try to sell them, but I'm asking around, and I've attached a list of what was stolen.  The distinctive feature is that I took any CGC book out of its slab (because I had no intention to sell) and put it in a mylite bag.  I kept the paper CGC info tag with the grading and put it in the back of the bag behind the backing board so it would be visible if I turned the book over.  I would think this would be very unusual for anyone intending to sell the books, so it might make my books easy to spot.  Have you seen anyone offering this particular combination of key books or seen any books with the CGC tag inside a mylite bag?  Because the break-in was at a storage facility that is visited rarely, the theft went undetected for a while.  It could have been any time in the last seven months (since Sept 1, 2020).

 

Here are some of the key books that were stolen (most in 8.5 condition or better)

Adventure #247

Amazing Spider-Man #2-7,129

Brave and Bold #28,30 (Justice League)

Cerebus #1-300

Daredevil #1-21

Fantastic Four #6-13

Flash #105 (This is the only book in my collection that had some restoration work done on it before I bought it.  I think they strengthened the spine of the cover, but I honestly can't remember exactly.)

Incredible Hulk #2-6

Journey Into Mystery #83-125 (Thor)

Justice League of America #1-4,8,9

Strange Tales #101-127

Tales to Astonish #27 (Ant-Man)

Tales of Suspense #39-47 (Iron Man)

X-Men #2,4,5,7

 

Thanks for any help or any leads you might be able to provide,

Randy

[Funnybooks]

That's brutal...I don't see this ending well after all this time..I wish him the best

[JollyComics]

Why storage rental?  It's not a safe place for the comic books.

[Happy_Thorsday]

4 hours ago, JollyComics said:

Why storage rental?  It's not a safe place for the comic books.

For some people it might be preferable to the home. If knowledge of the valuables in a storage unit would make the unit a target for theft, then the same could go for a home (nowadays with social media I could see this being even more of an issue). I would rather have some bonehead break into a business rather than a family home. I don't like keeping valuables in my home, but a lot do for the enjoyment factor. So to each their own. 

[LDarkseid1]

Damn, that's quite the collection of books!

I live in the valley and there's some stores around me. So will definitely keep my eye open if any of these books come into the shops.

Edited April 6, 2021 by LDarkseid1

[Galen130]

2 hours ago, Funnybooks said:

That's brutal...I don't see this ending well after all this time..I wish him the best

@blazingbob As zee Germans would say...schweinhunds!!!  I hope they catch the thief/thieves, but it's going to be a long shot.  They'll get theirs in the end.  Best of luck!!

[lordbyroncomics]

My sympathy for the owner. However, can I ask why a storage unit isn't safe to store a collection? Clearly this storage unit wasn't but... I would think with 24/7 security cameras and a locked gate that you can only enter with a code... it'd be kinda difficult, no? 

[blazingbob]

Listen folks,  I don't ask why they keep their collection in a storeroom.

I'm helping the guy out,  I find that the boards is another place where people are extremely helpful in finding and recovering stolen books.  

We have lots of examples of collections being stolen out of storage facilities.  

[snitzer]

3 hours ago, JollyComics said:

Why storage rental?  It's not a safe place for the comic books.

Agree. Too many incidents like this over the years. If nothing else, isn’t it possible to store the key issues somewhere else? 

[Black_Adam]

As long as it doesn't invalidate your insurance (which I hope he had), a storage locker is as good a place to store comics as anywhere. Assuming you choose a storage facility with controlled climate conditions and good security. Hope this thief is caught and does some time for this crime and the owner and his outstanding collection of comics are soon reunited!

[speedcake]

Awful. Hopefully some of the books turn up. If they were taken months ago and have already been churned back into the market then it'll probably be a long shot, but here's to hoping.

[LDarkseid1]

There's nothing worse than having your comics stolen, taking such cherished items from someone. Whoever would do this is the pot scum that lives under your shoe after you stepped in a splatter of dog feces and used bandaids.

[musicmeta]

Man, sorry to hear about this.  I hope the person can recover his books and scumbag who took him gets locked away for a long time.

[Robot Man]

Thanks for posting this Bob.

What a bummer. I can’t imagine doing this in the first place. And not checking for 7 months? How much room would these take up? One box? 

My son in law managed a self storage unit many years ago. Employees have a key to each unit and were well aware what was stored there. I had the benefit of buying a small but nice collection from their facility when the owner failed to pay their rent. I was pretty much told what was in there before hand. 

Hope he gets them back but after all that time, probably a lost cause. 

I believe Vista is near San Diego? If he hasn’t already he should contact Jamie at SO CA Comics or Bob at Empire. Books could have already moved on the bay. 

[JollyComics]

1 hour ago, Happy_Thorsday said:

For some people it might be preferable to the home. If knowledge of the valuables in a storage unit would make the unit a target for theft, then the same could go for a home (nowadays with social media I could see this being even more of an issue). I would rather have some bonehead break into a business rather than a family home. I don't like keeping valuables in my home, but a lot do for the enjoyment factor. So to each their own. 

How did the thief know the comic books were stored there?

There were few incidents that were well-known for example, a guy who asked for comic book donations for sick children and a guy who works for Doug of Pedigreecomics.com. Both are well known public figures that led to a break-in storage lockers. 

It's best to keep the secrets.

Edited April 6, 2021 by JollyComics

[Robot Man]

4 minutes ago, JollyComics said:

How did the thief know the comic books were stored there?

First you gotta catch him, then ask him. Could have been an inside job? Could have been blind luck sawing off locks? Could have been the theif seeing him moving them in? Could have been the collector himself telling the wrong person?

I would think the storage facility has cameras but probably not seven months. I would have been there regularly checking if I had to resort to that. 

[shadroch]

1 hour ago, wisbyron said:

My sympathy for the owner. However, can I ask why a storage unit isn't safe to store a collection? Clearly this storage unit wasn't but... I would think with 24/7 security cameras and a locked gate that you can only enter with a code... it'd be kinda difficult, no? 

When I was renting storage units in Las Vegas, I'd ask about cameras and most places had numerous blind spots.  There were several large thefts of comics while I was renting, including a guy who claimed to have lost a half million dollar Batman collection. I don't know the hows and whys, but thieves don't seem to be bothered by gate codes and cameras. 

On the other hand, someone stole my phone off a cart when I went back inside for a minute and the cameras lead us right to the guy. 

Let's not blame the victim.  Checking a storage locker in the middle of a pandemic may not have been a priority.

On the other hand, the place I used in Las Vegas would do a walk thru twice a day and check each lock and locker. If someone clipped my lock, I'd know about that day.

Edited April 6, 2021 by shadroch

[JollyComics]

27 minutes ago, Robot Man said:

First you gotta catch him, then ask him. Could have been an inside job? Could have been blind luck sawing off locks? Could have been the theif seeing him moving them in? Could have been the collector himself telling the wrong person?

I would think the storage facility has cameras but probably not seven months. I would have been there regularly checking if I had to resort to that. 

All known stolen collections were recorded via the security cameras. The police has nothing to do about it but a written stolen report is made.

Remember Comic4Less?   His location in Mundelein, IL was well known and is very old with little security.  His place was a target for a while. Pete bought a brand new state of art security building in Libertyville.

[JollyComics]

37 minutes ago, shadroch said:

When I was renting storage units in Las Vegas, I'd ask about cameras and most places had numerous blind spots.  There were several large thefts of comics while I was renting, including a guy who claimed to have lost a half million dollar Batman collection. I don't know the hows and whys, but thieves don't seem to be bothered by gate codes and cameras. 

On the other hand, someone stole my phone off a cart when I went back inside for a minute and the cameras lead us right to the guy. 

Let's not blame the victim.  Checking a storage locker in the middle of a pandemic may not have been a priority.

On the other hand, the place I used in Las Vegas would do a walk thru twice a day and check each lock and locker. If someone clipped my lock, I'd know about that day.

The guy went through the roof to snatch them but I am happy that guy was caught eventually in Arizona.  Thanks to our comic book communities all over US.

Sadly, the police is not doing anything about it and tells us if we have the insurance.

Edited April 6, 2021 by JollyComics

[blazingbob]

1 hour ago, Robot Man said:

Thanks for posting this Bob.

What a bummer. I can’t imagine doing this in the first place. And not checking for 7 months? How much room would these take up? One box? 

My son in law managed a self storage unit many years ago. Employees have a key to each unit and were well aware what was stored there. I had the benefit of buying a small but nice collection from their facility when the owner failed to pay their rent. I was pretty much told what was in there before hand. 

Hope he gets them back but after all that time, probably a lost cause. 

I believe Vista is near San Diego? If he hasn’t already he should contact Jamie at SO CA Comics or Bob at Empire. Books could have already moved on the bay. 

I have given him multiple CA dealers to contact in addition to send out this post to a group list of dealers that we use when dealing with bad credit cards,  thefts etc.