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The rest of the Monroeville story.
keets
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Just about a month ago I woke up for work as usual and before I headed out the door I checked in here to see if anything new was posted. I saw the Monroeville Coin Show post about a theft and when page one loaded I almost fell off my chair --- the pictured perp was a regular customer of ours who had been in the store just the day before!! When I scrolled down and saw the coins that had been stolen, !!Wham!!, same thing. Among the coins he had sold us were several Seated Dollars, the same thing listed in the theft thread.
I tried to call my boss but couldn't reach him so I left for work. When I arrived he was already there and he had the same reaction as me when I told him about the theft and showed him the thread. Fast forward to Thursday when he tells me he's been in contact with Larry Briggs and they're making arrangements to try and return what we think are some of the stolen coins, at least one that we had already sold. I make a trip to our trash dumpster and dig through things to find the flips that the coins had been in. Man, I love my job!!
On Friday my boss calls me into his office to tell me the perp had just called to say he'll be in the following Monday, and he told him that we might want to buy some of the Seated Dollars that we had passed on earlier that week. Sometime that night a call is made to Larry Briggs and a plan is hatched. He shows up with his nephew and we wait at the store all day Monday to no avail, had the local PD on standby waiting for our call. The perp ALWAYS shows up when he calls us so we figure maybe he got tipped somehow. Larry is sort of discouraged as he should have been, but we figured we tried.
My boss attends a small Coin Show the second Saturday of every month, he goes with another guy and I stay at "home" and manage the store. The week leading up to the September show we get a surprise phone call --- it's the perp and he wants to meet Rich at Canton on Saturday!! A hasty call goes out to Larry Briggs, the Canton PD is notified and another plan is hatched.
I get a call from my boss late that Saturday morning to tell me they had arrested the guy. I guess Larry was in some out-of-the-way place and a couple undercover PD were mingling in the show. The perp was sitting at the table doing a deal with my boss when they approached and it went so quick and smooth that most of the attendees never even knew anything had happened.
We haven't heard anything since but he's out of circulation for now. Hopefully Larry Briggs and any other victims of theft by the guy will be made whole. As Paul Harvey would say --- That's the rest of the story.
Al H.
I tried to call my boss but couldn't reach him so I left for work. When I arrived he was already there and he had the same reaction as me when I told him about the theft and showed him the thread. Fast forward to Thursday when he tells me he's been in contact with Larry Briggs and they're making arrangements to try and return what we think are some of the stolen coins, at least one that we had already sold. I make a trip to our trash dumpster and dig through things to find the flips that the coins had been in. Man, I love my job!!
On Friday my boss calls me into his office to tell me the perp had just called to say he'll be in the following Monday, and he told him that we might want to buy some of the Seated Dollars that we had passed on earlier that week. Sometime that night a call is made to Larry Briggs and a plan is hatched. He shows up with his nephew and we wait at the store all day Monday to no avail, had the local PD on standby waiting for our call. The perp ALWAYS shows up when he calls us so we figure maybe he got tipped somehow. Larry is sort of discouraged as he should have been, but we figured we tried.
My boss attends a small Coin Show the second Saturday of every month, he goes with another guy and I stay at "home" and manage the store. The week leading up to the September show we get a surprise phone call --- it's the perp and he wants to meet Rich at Canton on Saturday!! A hasty call goes out to Larry Briggs, the Canton PD is notified and another plan is hatched.
I get a call from my boss late that Saturday morning to tell me they had arrested the guy. I guess Larry was in some out-of-the-way place and a couple undercover PD were mingling in the show. The perp was sitting at the table doing a deal with my boss when they approached and it went so quick and smooth that most of the attendees never even knew anything had happened.
We haven't heard anything since but he's out of circulation for now. Hopefully Larry Briggs and any other victims of theft by the guy will be made whole. As Paul Harvey would say --- That's the rest of the story.
Al H.
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mark
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Please visit my website Millcitynumismatics.com
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bob
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The thief reportedly had asked the dealer Larry Briggs to show him the coins and then there was a distraction that allowed for the handful of coins to be scooped up. Did not learn though what the distraction was and how the thief slipped out, were you told? Do you know if the recovered coins included the two or three big ticket ones and to what extent Larry has been made whole?
As an aside, on a positive note it is good to see that Larry Briggs is back and actively participating at shows after some of his surgeries and medical issues that had been referenced on other threads.
I'm Whitman's new social-media editor, by the way: Diana Plattner. Y'all feel free to send suggestions for stories.
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http://www.american-legacy-coins.com
hadn't he already done something similar with currency theft from 2007-8??? I thought that was stolen in Baltimore and sold in either Pa or NY.
Tom
Thanks keets for posting that. I had missed the details of the original "Monroeville story." It looks like at least two of the coins lifted were valued over $10,000 dollars and with the approximate half dozen others the total loss was close to $50,00.00 - at least in present day retail value, though one could assume the acquisition cost for the dealer would have been substantially less.
The thief reportedly had asked the dealer Larry Briggs to show him the coins and then there was a distraction that allowed for the handful of coins to be scooped up. Did not learn though what the distraction was and how the thief slipped out, were you told? Do you know if the recovered coins included the two or three big ticket ones and to what extent Larry has been made whole?
As an aside, on a positive note it is good to see that Larry Briggs is back and actively participating at shows after some of his surgeries and medical issues that had been referenced on other threads.
?
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I make a trip to our trash dumpster and dig through things to find the flips that the coins had been in. Man, I love my job
Al H.
CSI Cleveland
I'm in
mark
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
The thief reportedly had asked the dealer Larry Briggs to show him the coins and then there was a distraction that allowed for the handful of coins to be scooped up. Did not learn though what the distraction was and how the thief slipped out, were you told? Do you know if the recovered coins included the two or three big ticket ones and to what extent Larry has been made whole?
In the 1973 episode of Hawaii Five-0 titled, "The $100,000 Dollar Nickel" (which was based on the theft of the Olsen Specimen of the 1913 Liberty Head Nickel that had just set the record for the price paid for a single coin the year prior in 1972), there was an interesting parallel to the real life theft subject of this thread. In both cases the coin(s) were stolen at a coin show by a thief who used a distraction. In the fictional TV episode the con artist's attractive wife provides the distraction as character Arnie Price examines a dealer's coins at the coin show being held in Waikiki's Ilikai Hotel. In the theft of the Larry Briggs coins, also at a coin show, the reportings I have read also reference a distraction used by the thief.
I remain curious as to just what that distraction was. In this thread I have asked Keets if he heard but there has been no response. Does anyone recall having learned just what the distraction was?
In a presentation I am giving tomorrow I expect to be making reference to how life has imitated art in this instance and would welcome any additional details about the Monroeville coin show heist.
Pictured above is my photo of the Olsen Specimen a/k/a the Hawaii Five-0 coin. For any not familiar with the celebrity history of this coin, as above noted it was the first coin to sell for $100,000. Most recently it was sold to an undisclosed party for the sum of $3,737,500 and has apparently not been seen publicly since its most recent known sale in 2010.
In the December 11, 1973 episode during the 6th season of the original Hawaii Five-0 TV series, the actual coin appeared in the show that featured Jack Lord as Detective McGarrett.
Ironically, in this week's opening episode of the 7th season of the remade Hawaii Five-0 TV series, Jack Lord makes a cameo appearance as he was brought back to life through the magic of CGI. He gives advice to the present day actor playing his former character, Steve McGarrett. My below photos depict filming last summer of the episode that aired Friday night.
And here is a screen shot that anyone here who saw this week's episode might recognize showing stuntman and world renown freerunner Jesse La Flair leaping over the same pallets you see in one of my shots above depicting Steve McGarrett's stunt double standing at the entrance to the alcove set. After exiting the alcove the two continue their chase as further depicted from the subsequent screen shots:
I make a trip to our trash dumpster and dig through things to find the flips that the coins had been in. Man, I love my job
Al H.
CSI Cleveland
I'm in
mark
Thanks to Keets for sharing with us the added information relating to this "episode."