California coin shop - B&E
Exbrit
Posts: 1,257 ✭✭✭✭
Date: 7/19/2022
Type of Incident: Burglary
Investigating Agency: Alhambra PD
Location: Alhambra, CA
Details:
During the past several months organized gangs have targeted shops in California.
At approximately 3:45am on 7/19/2022 Alhambra Coin Center was the target of a smash and grab burglary. A stolen vehicle with Texas license plates was used to smash through the front window knocking down the security gates. After the window was shattered approximately nine suspects ran from across the street and entered the store. The suspects were inside the store for one minute and thirty seconds and stole $80-100K in luxury bags and products.
Police responded in several minutes but suspects abandoned the stolen vehicle and left the scene.
I’m sure the owner, nice man by the way, has insurance, but that leaves the cost on all of us. His shop is top notch and he’s been in business since he was in high school. If I remember correctly he opened his B&M business in the sixties and moved into his current shop, two doors down from his old one, in the eighties.
Hope the catch the ….
Comments
I just hate to hear these stories. At least none of the good guys got hurt.
Alhambra Coin Center is a first rate operation! Three generations — the owner, his daughter and grandson — run that place. I’m hoping that they’re well-covered!
That’s truly horrible. I am confused though, if a coin store was the target, why did they end up with “luxury bags” instead of coins. I’m probably missing something obvious, sorry if this is a stupid question
Mr_Spud
They sell some used luxury goods there as well @Mr_Spud
This photo is from Google Maps. You can see luxury bags on one of the signs, as well as “Hermes” and “Chanel” on the folding sidewalk sign. Frankly it seems more likely to me that the intended target merchandise was the bags rather than the coins.
Nothing is as expensive as free money.
What’s truly sad is that even having insurance you generally get cents on the dollar in value. My local coin shop got robbed and they only took the stuff in 1 of 3 safes they were able to get (mostly modern silver and gold coins). The other 2 safes they couldn’t get in but where in the store for almost 8 hours. Worst part is that they caused almost $20k in damage on top of the $100k stolen in coins.
My local coin shop said the insurance paid for the damages and gave bullion value for the silver and gold coins but as a few were graded the shop owner lost out. The police put out a list of stolen items to the local coin shops and a nearby coin shop got a young adult try to sell the items. While they arrested the young adult selling the coins the coin shop only got those coins back, the vast majority were never returned. And the crook worked for the security company that monitored/installed the alarm at the coin shop. They knew exactly were to look and disable the alarm.
It’s not always a random event.
My current registry sets:
20th Century Type Set
Virtual DANSCO 7070
Slabbed IHC set - Missing the Anacs Slabbed coins
I see, now it makes more sense.
Mr_Spud
Horrible this happened. Great group of people at Alhambra Coin.
My Ebay Store
🤬
BHNC #248 … 121 and counting.
I walked by there when visiting my daughter in Pasadena last fall and recognized the name from big shows. It's a pretty big shop with luxury eye candy more visible from the outside than coins. Coins and small valuables are more likely put in a vault overnight than larger stuff. If you only spend 90 seconds in a store, you're not trying to bust open the vault.
I wish for them a full recovery from this. I have little faith that there will be any consequences for the criminals involved.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
I originally commented on the state of affairs, mostly in some states - but it’s everywhere. If you want to see more about the shop, watch the latest Slab Lab that was just released.
At least they're all fully masked. I'm glad they're taking this week's pandemic seriously.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
Always sad to hear of these events. Unfortunately, they are becoming more frequent. We must all work - in our respective communities - to bring law and order back and punish the violators. Cheers, RickO
It happened at 3:45am so I assume all of the coins were locked a safe. This was a smash and grab. In and out real fast before the cops showed up.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
Purses - They go for ridiculous amounts (20K). Other luxury items, Rolex watches, jewelry etc. watch the story the owner told about the Chinese couple and you’ll understand better - $$$.
Such a shame. This was well planned and I’d be willing to make a bet that some of the perps are on surveillance cameras from days or weeks prior. The police will need to pore over any and all footage to find some suspicious behavior or identifiable characteristics, which will take a long time. Hopefully the ones that did this are eventually caught and brought to justice. I really hate to see things like this happening. It is maddening and if there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s a f—-ing thief😡🤬
the place was scouted first then the crooks knew what to get and how long it would take them to rob and how long the cops would take to arrive they most likely were pros and doubt they are going to be caught
1997-Present
Sorry to hear, I bought my 1933-s Walker in MS67 from them back in 2004 I believe
Mike
My Indians
Danco Set
Would steel bars that roll down as some shops have helped?
from the videos i've watched, if we are talking about the same thing, they really don't help. against a 1-3 ton vehicle moving at even 20mph, not a lot will stop it from doing enough damage to prevent entry let alone if it is going faster.
as a side note, i did watch a police chase video with a person that thought because he was kinda tough and a bit stalky, albeit wearing thongs, thought he could push a vehicle (an large suv) and stop it from taking off, i've actually seen that many times, it has yet to work. LOL (also in the same vid, some really bright cops tried slapping and punching the suv windows to break them, well ya, that didn't work amazingly enough. that is a conversation for another forum though.
tbh, out of all the police chase vids i've seen (at least hundreds over 20 years) even vehicles with 4 flats, i doubt would even stop a vehicle then, so long as it can get some speed. if it is a powerful truck/sedan or whatever, not a chance. even if the bar things held, the ceiling/walls etc would give way, at least enough for a person(s) so slip in and out.
i'm not good with the formulas like many of our members are here with inertia and what not but a moving vehicle, even something like a neon or small civic can do some serious damage if a little room is attained.
for anyone that will enjoy a rampage being thwarted, check out the (indianapolis, IN) mall food court mass shooting cut short.
I was just watching SlabLab Episode 12 and realized it was filmed in this shop that was robbed. Unlike other episodes, in this one Seth actually visits the shop and got a walk around and looked in the cases of coins, jewelry and luxury handbags. He did have a lot of valuable items on display.
Watching the video of this robbery the morning after it happened was crazy. What I read before was that 8 people entered and then they all left in separate stolen cars.
you know, the natural thought we may have is, meh, no one got hurt, they have insurance BUT i recall a fender bender i was in that was pretty minor, was deemed my fault but a security camera would have changed that but it is what it is, my insurance cost went up a respectable amount just from that little incident, so i have to imagine, if 5 or 6 figures worth of insurance is claimed, that those rates gotta get hiked and probably for a long time.
i don't know if businesses get "accident forgiveness" for robberies and the such.
the main point i am getting at is depending on just how much rates go up, i wonder just how much security it would take, expense-wise, to justify the expense vs the possible premiums increase and perhaps difficulty settling a claim of a large amount.