Thefts Archives - Insure your Collection

His bobblehead collection worth $75,000 was stolen in a storage unit heist

A few weeks ago, Nick, a lifelong bobblehead collector from Oklahoma City, got the call every hobbyist dreads. The storage unit where he kept his collection had been broken into. Thieves cleared out 35 to 40 tubs of memorabilia – more than 250 Kobe Bryant bobbleheads, hundreds of Michael Jordan figures, and rare pieces he had spent decades chasing.

Within a day, some of his items surfaced at a local shop, and police detained one of the suspects. But many are still missing. Among them, a three foot Kobe Bryant bobblehead from the Lakers’ 2009 championship run, one of only 50 ever made, which appeared on eBay for $15,000.

$2 million in vintage baseball cards stolen

Authorities are investigating the theft of 54 vintage baseball cards, valued between $2 million and $3 million, that went missing last month before the Strongsville Sports Collectors Convention on April 19-21. The stolen items included rare Cracker Jack cards, as well as high-quality cards of Mickey Mantle and Roberto Clemente.

Thieves Target Valuable Works of Art and Substantial Matchbox Car Collection

German artist Michael Fischer-Art awoke recently to a rude surprise with the discovery that burglars had targeted his Leipzig studio, making off with a bounty of art and a substantial Matchbox car collection in the process.

Thieves entered the former machine hall of the old briquette factory in Borna in the overnight hours of March 2023, stealing nine paintings worth an estimated five figures. The criminals took a painting from each of his creative periods, which Fischer-Art describes as not a coincidence.

Adding ultimate insult-to-injury is that the thieves also motored off with Fischer-Art’s extensive Matchbox collection, which numbered more than 1,800 diecast strong.

As Fischer-Art put it via TAG24:

“It’s as if a piece of my heart had been ripped out. I’ve had the oldest cars for 51 years, they survived two divorces, but not Borna-Nord …”

Protect your collection today via Insure Your Collection.

Police Breakup Southern California Lego Theft Ring

If you’re going to feed your Lego fandom, we highly recommend that you go about it the legal way.

A pair of Long Beach residents learned a hard lesson in early June when they were arrested for allegedly stealing thousands of Lego sets from retail outlets in Southern California .

All totaled, Richard Siegel, 71, and Blanca Gudino, 39, swiped more than 2,800 boxes of Legos ranging in value from $20 to $1,000.

The brick castle began to collapase when Gudino initially appeared on the police’s radar for stealing Lego sets from a San Pedro shop in December. Police sprang into action in June after the genius Gudino hit the same shop’s Lakewood and Torrance locations.

Rather than assemble them one-by-one, the duo was, instead, reselling them online. The theft ring was so profitable that police even had to turn away interested buyers who showed up while the authorities were performing their search.

We suggest that as punishment, they should be made to walk barefoot across a floor covered in Lego bricks.

Indulge your Lego fandom the legal way here via hobbyDB!

Protect Your Pokemon Cards From…the Japanese Yakuza

If Pokemon has taught us anything since its inception nearly three decades ago, it’s that anyone will go to great lengths to add Pikachu and friends to their collection.

That includes the notorious Japanese organized crime syndicate the Yakuza.

Keita Saito, a lieutenant in the Yakuza’s Takinogawa family, was arrested recently in connection with an alleged home invasion. Among the 29 items targeted were 25 highly valuable Pokemon cards.

While we don’t necessarily think you have much to fear from the Yakuza, card theft is a real thing and arguably on the rise. That makes it a great idea to insure your valuable Pokemon cards. Protect yourself today with companies such as Sure insurance.

Buzz Lightyear doll thwarts Atlanta collection bin theft

OWING MILLS, Md. —A Buzz Lightyear doll was pivotal in thwarting a string of recent thefts in Atlanta. Mid-Atlantic Clothing Recycling, based out of Maryland, used a GPS transmitter to help solve the thefts of clothes from its collection bins. A company employee placed the transmitter in a stuffed Buzz Lightyear doll in bag containing used clothing items.

GPS tracking is a cool idea, but good insurance and accurate records are safe ideas too. You can easily record and manage your collectibles at hobbydb.com. Read more at wmur.com

Marklin Museum Robbery 2005

The museum director had just taken seat at the breakfast table, with newspaper open, when the phone rang. The caller was the CEO of Marklin. That did not bode well. Very rarely he called privately at home and certainly not so early in the morning. The news was devastating and at breakfast, the newspaper was no longer conceivable to read. The scene was much worse than he had feared. The emergency exit door was damaged, display cases with glass over a centimeter thick were broken. Also on the wall with anti-theft cases, there were traces of forced entry.

Auguste Victoria

The complete historic Gauge I, Gauge 0, the Scale 00 from before 1945, steam engines, drive models and most tragically, the valuable ships “Auguste Victoria” and “Mecklenburg” and the extremely rare lighthouse were missing. The valuable figures of the ships, the captain of the “Auguste Victoria” was worth in good condition a 4-digit Euro sum at auction. Partially broken into fragments, a figure, a sailor, even completely, they were and gave testimony about which way the exhibits had left the premises. Clearly the burglars of the valuable pieces could not have been collectors or connoisseurs. The suspicion that the “loot” was subjected to abuse and roughly handled came on. The complete area surrounding the firm’s fence was then searched very carefully, but no more traces were found. Because of the amount of the stolen loot, with around 184 pieces missing, it was suggested that a truck would have been the getaway vehicle.

Read more at Marklinstop.com

Missing Dr Who Dalek found on Tor

No collectible is completely safe from theft.

A Dalek stolen from a Somerset tourist site has been found on Glastonbury Tor after thieves said it was “too hot.” The prop, which was at Wookey Hole Caves, near Wells, for a Doctor Who exhibition, was taken more than a week ago. A “ransom note” was then issued.

Cave owner Gerry Cottle made appeals for information. In the early hours of Tuesday, staff recieved a phone call telling them where the Dalek was.

Read more at BBC NEWS UK

Dog destroys £40,000 Elvis teddy

Nothin' but a hound dog... — Nothin’ but a hound dog…

Dobermann Barney was looking after the rare Steiff bear, named Mabel, which had been loaned for an exhibition at Wookey Hole Caves near Wells, Somerset.

The dog ripped the head off the bear and attacked scores of other teddies.

Barney’s owner could only suggest that the bear had a rogue scent on it – or that Barney had become jealous of it.

The bear, made in Germany in 1909, was bought at auction in Memphis, Tennessee, by Somerset aristocrat Sir Benjamin Slade.

Read more at BBC NEWS UK.

Real Bear Steals Toy Bear From New Hampshire Home

A black bear walked into a New Hampshire house through an open door, ate two pears and a bunch of grapes, took a drink from the family fishbowl and grabbed a stuffed bear on its way out the door.

Mary Beth Parkinson said the bear apparently took advantage of the open outside door to get into her kitchen Tuesday in Laconia, about 20 miles north of Concord. She thinks the garage door going up scared the bear enough that it fled the house.

Courtesy of Huffingtonpost.com