Half Million Dollar Collection Heist

They guy hit it on the head when he said that it had to be someone who knew he was gone. That probably took a few hours to do. Ugh.

Wow, he needs new neighbors. He needed (too late now) a security system or a safe deposit box.

I don't know if you've seen this one. It is out of the web page for the Crescent City Coin Club (New Orleans area. I simply copied it and am entering it here. This was written by someone else, not me:

Two of our dearest friends were robbed the evening of November 2nd in Bessemer Alabama , Joe and Jean Gallo who deals in error coins and varieties. They were the victim of a planted GPS tracking device under the wheel well of their truck. Their complete inventory was taken. He even had a very rare 1969-S Double Die Obverse Lincoln Cent. If anyone comes across an unusual amount of errors or varieties from suspicious sellers, please contact Joe or Jean at 985-768-0203. They would appreciate any help you can offer. Please let all of your friends and local dealers to be on the lookout. A GPS tracking device detector would help eliminate some of these robberies. I am researching where and what exactly to purchase to detect these gadgets.

It pays to have good neighbors, this guy did not.

Just one of the problems with our modern electronic information availability. For example if you insure your valuables, today all such info goes into computers. These are maintained by a usual never ending supply of different personal. Some may not be the most honest individuals. Or if they loose their jobs they may well leave with bundle of personal info. Many people have coin magazines delivered to their houses. These sometimes are visible from the street. Sort of like advertising you have coins. Same with gun, knife, sword types of magazines.
Having a safe delivered to your house is another form of advertising you have something in that place that needs to be stolen. And don't forget the people that deliver them.
Many people when going on vacation tell the police, fire department, post office, milk or other delivery services. More advertising an empty house.
Don't knock the neighbors. Did anyone pay them to watch the house? Not their job. One of the many house robberies around me was when someone went on vacation. A moving van pulled up, told the nosey neighbors that the people that lived there decided to move to where they were now at on vacation. The movers emptied the house including a safe and a security system. Naturally when the vacationers came home they were shocked at the empty place.
The worst part of a coin collection being stolen is that most criminals are not Numismatically intelligent. So many of the coins end up in coin counting machines in stores or even banks. Some sold at flea markets.

I wonder about how inflated the value of this collection was for the report. Probably replacement value? Still, he must have had an amazing collection.

The worst part is when the rare coins goes to the wrong hand and they don't know how to handle the coins and they distroy it. What a lost to the numismatic world.