Apartment broken into and good part of knife collection stolen

[pjmaxm]

Well my apartment was broken into the other day and besides our TV, laptop, and Ipod, they also stole my carrying case with 16 folders. It bothered me and angered me that the TV, laptop, and Ipod got stolen, but they are just material electronics I have to connection to. But my knives, well that is a different story. That one hurt.

They were more than just material possesions for me, they had meaning and I was connected to them. From the first knife I ever had my Victorinox Tinker, which was a christmas present from my parents when I was 10; to my Small Classic Sebenza that I saved for months to buy after I got a good job. I have been collecting knives since I was 10 and a good portion of them are gone now. Here is a list, if anyone sees these being sold please let me know. I know it is a long shot but I will try what I can.

CRK Small Classic Sebenza (with three even sized holes cut out of the front scale)
Spyderco Calypso Jr VG-10
Spyderco Lava
Spyderco Centofante 4
Spyderco Military BG42
Spyderco Native S30V
Burke Production Rockstar
Kershaw Mini-Cyclone ZDP189/TI
Bradley Alias 1
Falkniven U2
small handmade Italian slipjoint folder with bone handle I picked up in Sicily
Victorinox Tinker

Balisongs:
Benchmade Morpho
Bradley Kimura
Cold Steel Arc Angel
Palacio Pandayan (custom Philiphine maker)


I will miss all my knives but some hurt more than others, such as the Victorninox Tinker, the Sebenza, the Caly Jr and BG42 Military. The Sebenza and Tinker for obvious reasons, the cost of the Sebenza and the sentimental value of the Tinker. The Caly Jr and Military hurt because those are the two knives that conviced me that Spyderco is my favorate knife company. They also helped me realize that besides Sal Glesser being a wonderful person and business man, he is also my favorate knife designer. If I was forced to keep only two knives for the rest of my life I think I could make it with my Military with the BG-42 and carbon fiber handles and Calypso Jr with the grey FRN and VG-10.

Well they did not get all my folders. I had my Lum Chinese in my pocket, and then a couple Benchmades and a couple of Kershaws in the safe (never use them and was going to trade them soon), my Paramilitary is taken apart as I am working on it and a Boker CLB Wharcom.

So now I am trying to decide what to do. I love my Lum and could trade the Benchmades for a couple Spydercos I would love, like a Stretch II in CF. Then get a Mini-Manix 2 when they come out and be all set for folding knives. While I miss all my knives so much, they all helped me learn that I could really be fine with just a few Spydercos. Or do I resume collecting and buying. I just am not sure, but think I will settle on getting the Stretch II and Mini-Manix 2 and then just get any collaborations that really speak to me.


I am trying to keep it all in perspective though. I am safe, my wife was not home and is safe, our cats are fine. My gun safe was not touched, that would have been very bad. They were only material possesions that were stolen that I can live without and life will go on. It is hard though to keep this in perspective when something you worked for 14 years on is gone.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, it helps to talk with others about it.

[cougar337]

Oh man that sucks, I'm so sorry to hear about that. There's nothing worse than someone taking things from your home, you feel so violated! I would I wish you the best of luck in building your collection back up.

[spydutch]

Man, that sucks big time :mad: :mad:

[Fred Sanford]

Sorry to hear that man. I'll keep an eye out.

I would go to some of your local pawn shops and see if your knives are there. The thieves would probably pawn them off first without going to eBay.

[spyderHS08]

Im very sorry to hear this bro, I wish you the best of luck in building your new collection

[pjmaxm]

Thanks for all the kind words and support, I really appreciate it.

I would go to some of your local pawn shops and see if your knives are there. The thieves would probably pawn them off first without going to eBay.

Yeah that is my plan for Saturday. What a great way to spend a spring Saturday morning, looking at the numerous pawn shops in our city for my stuff.

[Doc Pyres]

That's terrible, I sympathize with you pj. I hope you recover what was taken.

[Dr. Snubnose]

So sorry to hear of your loss....I hate to hear about this happening to nice people. If the robbers were young street thugs..chances are the knives will be of greater value in resale on the street rather than what they would get from a pawn broker....but It's still worth the time and energy to check out some of those local pawn shops. Good luck in your search and thank god you are all ok. The thugs...they will get what's coming to them...it's just a matter of time...Doc :D

[Manix Guy 2]

Sorry for your loss , I detest thieves . The ray of sunshine is the ones you love are safe , and they can not be replaced . Regards MG2

[DMgangl]

If you have pictures and a list start along with the police report. Start going buy pawnshops and leaving a list with pics and your number. You may get lucky.

DM

[Monocrom]

Sorry to hear about what happened. I had the vast majority of my collection stolen by a family friend who helped us move a few years ago. (But I just can't prove it).

I know what you're going through. There were some pieces I'll never be able to replace. Also due to price and sentimental value. Especially my very first Spyderco. (Fully serrated edge Endura with the old, thin, integral clip).

Wish I had some comforting words of advice. All I did was renew collecting right after the theft. Spreading out your collection so it's not all or mainly in one place is a good idea. Perhaps even a safe deposit box at a bank for those truly special pieces. (Assuming that knives would not be considered illegal to put into such a box, where you live).

[Jamie n]

I am lost for words mate, such a terrible thing to happen :mad:

One consolation maybe is that with such a vast collection taken, the thief will have a hard time shifting them, spread the word about.

[bohica1998]

The idea about checking the pawnshops is a good one. Thieves are stupid!

Last year, Mom had a bunch of stuff taken from her house (burglary). The thieves took some of it (a couple of beer steins from Germany) to the local pawnshop.

My brother who happened to work there saw them and thought "Gee, these look familiar", and after later finding out about the robbery, called the cops. They traced them down from the address on the pawn ticket.

We did NOT recover most of our stuff (my $2000+ worth of camera equipment and ALL mine and my brothers reloading equipment ($???)), but we did get some of it back, including a round glass fronted curio cabinet of Mom's worth about $500.00

All you can do is try. Best of luck with this.

[MAT888]

Man this realy sucks.

If you got a list from stolen stuff and pictures i'd sure make a pawnshoptrip. Might be tickets from the shops may give police a chance to locate the thugs..

[Shenmue728]

I recently got robbed as well. They took out of my garage a Bladez 40cc scooter. I weigh over 200lbs and that little SOB got me up to 38MPH on the flats :eek: Plus it got 100 miles to a gallon :cool: Got it when gas was hitting up to $5 a gallon last summer to save some green and hoard :spyder: 's and stuff.

I had it chained to the wall through a 1inch steel eyelet and they ripped it out of the wall right next to my Camaro :mad: It would also have it that i had a dispute with the neighbors (yes, same with pit bulls from Dog SD thread) friend who shares our garage about him blocking my Camaro when i had to go to work a few days before. All her stuff was left untouched and she didnt see or hear anything. I felt bad about losing that thing but what was worse is my Dad had to replace the garage door they kicked in.

I now have a Goped Bigfoot that i got off eBay. Nowhere near as fast but still fun to ride and get to work on when the weather is clear. I decided that i wasn't going to let the low lives of the world keep me from my passions or hobbies. They got some of my property but they aren't going to keep me from enjoying my life.

I really do hope you can get your coillection going again man and good luck recovering anything from the theft.

[Toad310]

Sorry to hear of this. Hope you are doing OK.

[dialex]

So very sorry to hear about your loss. :mad: Hopefully you'll get your knives back in a decent amount of time.

[mr_bsii]

Good luck, and you might want to make a pawn shop run as was suggested earlier. Two nights ago, someone went through the family cars right in our driveway. Nothing of significance was taken with the exception of the face plate of my radio. We're suspecting kids because they couldn't get the radio out and were apparently unaware of how one is installed (poped one of the heat/ac deflectors to try to get to it). I installed a motion light in the front, and will put one in the back of the house this evening. I'd love to catch the lowlifes in the act just to know who it is, but that would probably run counter to a long, happy and productive life for me, so if I never see 'em that's ok too. Obviously, nothing of value will be left in the cars from now on, and we'll probably have a home security system in the near future. What a royal PITA. I hope that you do find a way to acheive some kind of (legal - of course) recouse against the perp(s), but from what I understand, the odds are not in your (our) favor.

[miyamotomusashi]

Oh, man, I wanted to cry as I read this horror story. That is horrid. I am glad they didn't touch your safe. Makes me want to keep everything locked in the safe from now on, at all times.

I would imagine they'll all show up on eBay. I'd enter a search to be emailed if those models pop up, but there are so many, it's gonna be almost impossible, unless they all pop up at once, near your town.

I feel for ya, bro. ****, at least they didn't get 'em all! (Makes me want to EDC as many as possible at a time too)

[Edgy]

I am so sorry this happened! I hope your collection gets back on track soon.