Way to go Bill Walker of Heritage.....helps in recovering stolen coins.
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Heritage Helps in Recovering Stolen Coins
by CoinNews.net on June 2, 2017
Bill Walker, a rare coin specialist at
Heritage Auctions
Quick thinking on the part of a Heritage Auctions staff member led to the discovery of two high-value coins re-entering the marketplace.
Earlier this year Bill Walker, a rare coin specialist in Heritage Auctions’ Dallas office, was approached by a Florida coin dealer seeking to auction five rare coins. Walker began researching the coins and noticed that they all had been offered and sold in the firms’ Florida United Numismatics (FUN) Auction in 2016. The winner purchased seven coins and the Florida dealer was offering five from the purchase.
Realizing that the coins likely did not belong to the same person who successfully won the coins in the auction, Walker delved even further into the matter. Curiously, the dealer was being offered the coins for less than the recent auction records. Walker called contacts in the hobby and then the winning bidder to learn if the coins had been sold following the auction. As expected, the winning bidder denied selling the coins at a loss and only then made aware they had been stolen.
Walker traced the coins’ history and discovered they likely were stolen while on the way to Numismatic Guaranty Corporation by a mail carrier shipment shortly after the auction. They likely were sold then to a Florida dealer, who subsequently offered them to another dealer, who eventually contacted Heritage Auctions.
"I knew these coins could not have belonged to the winning bidder," Walker said. "I thought it was extremely odd that the seller was offering the coins for less than the recent auction price. Come to find out some coins had been broken out of their certified holder."
Thanks to Walker’s work and quick thinking, the grateful owner has so far recovered five of seven stolen coins.
Heritage Auctions (HA.com) is the largest fine art and collectibles auction house founded in the United States, and the world’s largest collectibles auctioneer.
http://www.coinnews.net/2017/06/02/heritage-helps-in-recovering-stolen-coins/
Comments
Nice to see someone paying attention. Well done!
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Who got the shaft for having/buying the stolen coins? Did they catch the crook? Did the last dealer have to return them at his expense?
The guys sends his coins to NGC and more than a year later realizes they never made it there and back?
Lot's of questions.
Makes you wonder, LOL!
Also
The following doesn't make sense either.
"Realizing that the coins likely did not belong to the same person who successfully won the coins in the auction, Walker delved even further into the matter. Walker called contacts in the hobby and then the winning bidder to learn if the coins had been sold following the auction. As expected, the winning bidder denied selling the coins at a loss and only then made aware they had been stolen."
that is an odd part of the story. more money than worries?
Very nice story and detective work. Too bad for the last dealer to own them as he will probably take a substantial hit. Hopefully the original owner will at least give him (and Bill Walker if Heritage permits it) a modest reward.
Great news.
good news and one pat on the back to bill walker.
I don't know what to think about this. Some of the elements of the story seem odd.
Good job
My head hurts after reading that.
It is unclear why the owner was not aware that his coins were stolen. Hard to follow but good work by Mr. Walker.
"Look up, old boy, and see what you get." -William Bonney.
I think this article could have been much more valuable or clear if the standard of journalism within it was of a higher quality.
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@TomB....You hit the nail on the head with that input..... I do believe that it is more the writing of the article (research, applicable facts, timeline etc.) that is at fault. Cheers, RickO
Other Heritage folks post here, so maybe one of them will offer a clarification.
From Dave Harper of NN.....................
Coins might not be where you think they are
Posted on June 2, 2017 by Dave Harper
In the case of one fortunate coin buyer, who didn’t even realize some coins of his had been stolen, it is Bill Walker of Heritage Auctions.
Thanks to Walker’s outstanding professionalism and research skills, five of seven coins the buyer had purchased at the 2016 Florida United Numismatists convention auction have been recovered for him.
As Heritage tells the story, earlier this year Walker, a rare coin specialist in Heritage Auctions’ Dallas office, was approached by a Florida coin dealer seeking to auction five rare coins.
So far, so routine.
However, Walker noticed that all five had been sold at the 2016 FUN auction.
An additional two pieces had also been sold at the auction and purchased by the same buyer.
This buyer was not who was offering the coins.
Red flags began flying in Walker’s mind.
At each step, there were more such flags.
Walker learned that the dealer who wanted to auction the coins was being offered them for less than they had sold for in recent auction records.
Walker began phoning contacts in the hobby.
Then he talked to the winning 2016 bidder to inquire if the coins had been sold following the auction.
The successful bidder denied selling the coins at a loss.
At that point, he was made aware that they must have been stolen.
With further research, Walker concluded the coins likely were pilfered while on their way to Numismatic Guaranty Corporation in a mail carrier shipment shortly after the auction.
Following the theft, they seemed to have been sold to a Florida dealer, who in turn offered them to another dealer, who contacted Heritage Auctions.
Heritage quotes Walker as saying, “I knew these coins could not have belonged to the winning bidder.
“I thought it was extremely odd that the seller was offering the coins for less than the recent auction price.
“Come to find out, some coins had been broken out of their certified holder.”
Had Heritage and Walker not been contacted, who knows what might have happened?
Who knows how long it would have taken the rightful owner to realize his property was missing?
As Shakespeare wrote, “All’s well that ends well.”
However, it takes people of the calibre of Walker to make happy endings happen.
Well done, Bill Walker.
All of us in the numismatic field are fortunate to have you watching our backs.
Buzz blogger Dave Harper has twice won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog and is editor of the weekly newspaper “Numismatic News.”
http://www.numismaticnews.net/buzz/coins-might-not-think
I wonder if the holder of those coins was trying to consign them to Heritage raw or if they had been reholdered and by whom?
Heritage quotes Walker as saying, “I knew these coins could not have belonged to the winning bidder.
How could he know that?
A call to the winning bidder confirmed that that statement is/was false.
Did the previous owner say that? I read it to mean that the winning bidder denied selling the coins and then made Walker aware the coins had been stolen. Maybe the winning bidder didn't want to divulge too much information in a cold call until he was comfortable with Mr. Walker's identity
I have dealt with Mr. Walker who is professional, a nice guy and good to deal with whether buying or selling. High tech interdiction of thefts should be second nature in 2017; if we just rely on sharp people like this who act on their hunches, instincts and common sense we will not interdict all the stolen stuff out there looking for the most $! Had the items gone to auction probably the dots would have been connected too. If Numismatic Crime (Doug Davis) has a record of a stolen report they should automatically trigger alarms when the same items show up going to auction. I had a certified coin worth thousands later show up at auction at Heritage and when the consigning dealer was asked where he got it from said he didn't remember. Items without clear title should activate legal scrutiny going back to the original fraud.
Then there is this.
"The successful bidder denied selling the coins at a loss.
At that point, "he" was made aware that they must have been stolen."
So who is the "he" now? Walker or the winning bidder? It would have been much simpler to write it better in the first place.
It makes it sound like the owner didn't even know the coins were missing and perhaps never even received them. Shortly after the auction is when they went missing. Mind you that was in 2016! Article is whacked.
If they were heisted in transit, he may well have collected from an insurance claim and likely didn't care to report it. No matter how you slice it, the article is dumbly written.
Context.
I read it as I believe it was meant....
"I knew they could not have come through to me, the way they had, from the winner bidder".....Ie....they couldn't have belonged to the winner bidder going through the dealer to him...ergo, the person using the dealer was NOT the winner bidder.
I've been told I tolerate fools poorly...that may explain things if I have a problem with you. Current ebay items - Nothing at the moment
They are no longer good journalists or reporters out there.....practically in any venue. They don't properly edit articles either. They no longer seem to care if things make sense, aren't spelled correctly, or poor grammar is used.
It's the age of the quick sound bites, even in writing. Get it out there quick, don't worry about it, and move on to the next item.
Don't worry if something is wrong. Just keep moving forward, no matter what.
I've been told I tolerate fools poorly...that may explain things if I have a problem with you. Current ebay items - Nothing at the moment
Thank you for your sharp eyes and knowledge and willingness to investigate!
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The article states 2016, this happened this year in 2017.
Exactly. Pronouns aren't a reader's best friend.