Deck stolen, what can I do?

[Rock Lee]

So I'm not the most security-minded person. I have been holding my Legacy deck on my person in a messenger bag I bring to my classes. The only time I leave it unattended is at the gym every day for 2 hours. I never locked my locker for the last two years since I never had items of value in it, but since my landlord is showing their house to have it sold I'm carrying the deck on me and didn't lock my locker.

Well lo-and-behold the first day of me doing this my deck is stolen out of the locker at my college's gym. I reported it at the local police, but my bag wasn't stolen or credit cards taken, just specifically the deckbox taken so I was either marked or they knew the value/trace-ability of the cards.

My question isn't what I could have done or how dumb I was, but rather is there a way to claim this on homeowner's insurance, what kind of things should/could I do to get the card returned. Overall what actions should I take now?

Total value of the deck was ~2,100 USD.

[xfxf]

I'm very sorry to hear this pal, you were playing that sweet turbo eldrazi deck with candles right? Do you have any gym buddies you could ask if they saw anybody fiddling around your locker. If it's not a very crowded gym can you try to find out who had access to it during those hours? I mean any way to actually find out the thief since it's a college gym?

[Rock Lee]

I'm very sorry to hear this pal, you were playing that sweet turbo eldrazi deck with candles right? Do you have any gym buddies you could ask if they saw anybody fiddling around your locker. If it's not a very crowded gym can you try to find out who had access to it during those hours? I mean any way to actually find out the thief since it's a college gym?

Yeah I'll talk to them today. unfortunately they only mark your checkin time not your checkout time and a fitness class was just ending when I was going in so the lockers were full.

And yeah, full set of candelabras, tabernacle, full trops. deck was worth over 2500 USD easily. Additionally I had my winnings in the last few months in it that I had posted on Ebay, which were another 1500$.

[Arianrhod]

Really sorry to hear that =(

I'd definitely contact all the local game shops and have them on the lookout. I'm going to Mythic on Saturday, so I'll say something to Dan and have him on the lookout as well, just in case the thieves try to go a little further abroad. You should probably call Jupiter, as well, just in case. Otherwise....I guess keep an eye out on eBay to see if someone lists a bunch of the pieces of the deck? Wish I could do more for you =(

Did any of the cards have unusual identifying features? Signed cards/alters etc?

[Rock Lee]

Did any of the cards have unusual identifying features? Signed cards/alters etc?

Unfortunately no. English, good condition on them all. I'll make up a total list soon, but none of 'em are signed/crimped/identifyable.

[Richard Cheese]

Sorry to hear about your loss. My guess is that there's unfortunately not much you can do at this point.

If you have a landlord I'm guessing you have renter's insurance. I think insuring cards/collections has been discussed at some point here, and I believe the final verdict was that most companies are going to want an appraisal of any collectibles before they'll give you a fair value for it. I could be totally wrong though and it doesn't hurt to call your insurance company, although I have no idea how they deal with things that are stolen from somewhere other than your home.

Things like this make me seriously consider doing something like initialing my cards with a super Sharpie somewhere, at least all the staples. How much would this devalue cards like duals, goyfs, etc., if it were on the back and didn't effect playability?

[Dark Ritual]

Sorry to hear about your loss. My guess is that there's unfortunately not much you can do at this point.

If you have a landlord I'm guessing you have renter's insurance. I think insuring cards/collections has been discussed at some point here, and I believe the final verdict was that most companies are going to want an appraisal of any collectibles before they'll give you a fair value for it. I could be totally wrong though and it doesn't hurt to call your insurance company, although I have no idea how they deal with things that are stolen from somewhere other than your home.

Things like this make me seriously consider doing something like initialing my cards with a super Sharpie somewhere, at least all the staples. How much would this devalue cards like duals, goyfs, etc., if it were on the back and didn't effect playability?

This would devalue them quite a bit. I had a signed badlands that wasn't signed by Garfield or Alexander and nobody wanted the thing, I was lucky to get 40 dollars for it in trade. Personally, I just keep an eye on my stuff. I've never had anything stolen from me. Although I've never heard of something like this.

I hope you get your cards back, the likelihood of that happening is pretty low though unfortunately unless the thief is stupid although the way you describe them (taking the cards and nothing else) it seems like this person knows the value of said cards and isn't likely to take them to any LGS's in your area. I would still contact all the LGS's in the area to look out for the cards that were stolen from you.

[anonymos]

Talk to local game shop owners/regular employees. Ask them to keep an eye out for someone appearing from nowhere with them and/or trying to sell what you had stolen. Candelabra's aren't exactly commonplace.

[sdematt]

Check the local dealers and card stores, and keep your eyes peeled on Ebay over the next few months. Check MOTL as well.

-Matt

[Linqed]

And never put $2000,- in an unlocked locker.

[Chikenbok]

This happened to me my first day of starting my graduate program when I stopped by the library to pick up some books. Put the backpack down for a few minutes to grab some books, came back, everything was left there (including my laptop) but my prescription (for some anti-anxiety/chilling out medication) and two decks had been stolen out of the front of my bag.

I went to the library front desk and reported it, the police came and found out that they had found the student who had taken the cards on a security camera. They figured out who he was, and he returned everything after I chose not to press charges (I think however, I did manage to scare him shitless with threats of expulsion from the University).

So you might want to see if perhaps there were any cameras around (although, it might be a bit weirder that one would have them in a Gym locker room than a library reference room).

Either way, best of luck, its a really horrible feeling and I know that most of us have experienced it, at least to a certain degree, at a certain point.

- Alex

[troopatroop]

very sorry to hear this, but it's important to remember, a person did this. a person much like you, someone who knew the value of a deckbox like that, and who knew that it would be in your bag. It could be someone who you know, who told a friend where when and how to take that from you, and who caused it. think hard about that.

Also, it could be some random going through peoples bags, who hit the random jackpot. Sorry man

[Rock Lee]

Thanks all for the advice/ideas. The campus police found the deck untouched dropped in a locker nowhere near I ever go. They said it is common to drop recently pickpocket/stolen items to a safe location to pick up later instead of moving around near the mark with stolen items.

I'll be sure to use a padlock from now on. Totally freaked out the last 24 hours.

[Damoxx]

At least you know where your deck went. I had a Riku EDH deck just up and disappeared. I'm not sure if I left it somewhere, if it was stolen, or if my two year old did something unthinkable to it.

If any one has seen a Russian Pongify or a 8th edition bribery that has sharpied edges and "gimme" written on it, let me know.

[Esper3k]

Wow, super lucky!

I wonder if the thief also just left it because they didn't know what the cards (ie didn't know what they were stealing) were worth?

[troopatroop]

crazy awesome lucky. God SHINES on you today my friend.

[Michael Keller]

That really sucks, man. I'm sorry.

[CookedChestnuts]

Good to see everything worked out, and a lesson was learned.

[RaNDoMxGeSTuReS]

So lucky. Now I can start the hash tag #BanPrimevalTitan, but seriously -- I'm relieved.

[Malchar]

If someone stole only the cards, and not your credit cards or other valuables, it's likely that the thief was someone who knows about magic cards. Since it was stolen on the first day that you were carrying it, it might have been someone that you know. If you mentioned that you were carrying the deck to anyone, I would be suspicious of them.

[John Cox]

I know from in the photography world you can get sharpies that write in UV ink. undetectable to the naked eye, but put it under a black light and it pops up. If your hyper-paranoid, that would be better than writing in black ink.
Funny story though, in 1996 I bought a black lotus from a reputable dealer that said "John's" on it. Both the dealer and myself were named John, the dealer had had it a few times and no one knew how it got the name.

[Fizzeler]

Sad to hear you went through this, but at least you were able to recover your deck, I had a similar experience of leaving my trade binder at a store, fortunately no one touched when I returned and all the cards were still there, but the thought of losing some valuable cards scared me

Hope to hear reports of Turbo Eldrazi in the future

[Lord Seth]

And never put $2000,- in an unlocked locker.Never put $1 in an unlocked locker if you can help it.

As long as we're dispensing wisdom, using your laptop on the bus, at least when it's stopped at a transfer point, isn't a great idea because someone might grab it out of your hands and run off. Through almost pure luck the police recovered it, but it was still something to remember.

[menace13]

Luckily it was recovered. Now you can be more security minded in regards to walking around with 2500 dollar decks.

[Malchar]

I've mentioned this before in other threads, but many magic cards are now more valuable than an equal volume of $100 bills. Magic cards are almost as liquid as cash, and should be guarded as such.

[Vicar in a tutu]

Thanks all for the advice/ideas. The campus police found the deck untouched dropped in a locker nowhere near I ever go. They said it is common to drop recently pickpocket/stolen items to a safe location to pick up later instead of moving around near the mark with stolen items.

I'll be sure to use a padlock from now on. Totally freaked out the last 24 hours.
Great news! I'm so happy you got your deck back. I made Turbo-Eldrazi practically almost because of your posts about the deck.

[nedleeds]

That happened once to someone around here. The car got broken into with about 5k of cards in a backpack inside. The perp rummaged through the backpack, but left all the cards and took the CDs in the glove box instead.

Me as well ... some pieces of shit broke my window and stole my radar detector and I had (current value) a $50,000 prismatic deck in my trunk.

[Vicar in a tutu]

Pay attention to your stuff. Seriously, there's no one to blame except you.
How about the thief? Sure, everyone has a responsibility to take care of their own stuff. But sometimes thieves and criminals can do horrible things despite this. I seriously detest when people automatically assume that someone got stuff stolen from them because they weren't vigilant enough.

[lordofthepit]

I'm really happy you got your deck back!

That being said, at the very least, lock up your stuff!

[DragoFireheart]

You got lucky the thief dropped the deck box like he did.

Considering the value of the cards, treat them like you would real money.

[dakkon]

That is great news. I still recommend you to find out what your homeowners insurance policy covers for future reference. My renters insurance doesn't cover that much for collectibles so I'm purchasing additional coverage through Statefarm. It's ~$100/yr for ~$10K coverage.

[xfxf]

Seriously man, we have a phrase in my language which goes "One disaster is better than a thousand counsel". I'm glad that it worked out for you and I'm sure you'll take much better care of your cards going forward.

[Sarahaw]

Sorry for this. It would be hard to have it appraised by your insurer since you lost them outside your home, would be better to claim that they were stolen at home. And take advantage of the renter’s insurance.
Tracing the thief is also arduous since the it’s clear he knew the high value of the cards as to only make away with the deck cards without touching credit cards and all. It’s still worth it to contact your local shops, dealers and card shops and describe the cards in case they see someone selling them such cards though he will most probably move out of region.
If there were cameras around the cops would have immediately figured out and so that’s not an option.
Marking the cards greatly devalue them and that’s why I go for a master combo lock like FJM SX-875. It is shrouded thus will take time to access and bolt cut the hardened steel shackle. It is also light weight and so I don’t have a problem carrying it in the bag whenever I hitting the gym.
It has 10,000 possible combinations that will take a thief forever to guess. Just like all the best locks for gym lockers (https://motoringessentialsguide.com/best-locks-gym-lockers/), Master combination padlocks provide keyless convenience, such that you don’t have to worry about losing the key. You just have to memorize the code you set.
And what’s more it you forget the code, you can use a master key override that hacks it open instead of having to cut or break the padlock useless.

[jandax]

Decent Necro, young padawan

[Ace/Homebrew]

Literally all of Sarahaw's posts are necros...
I'm not even sure how that happens. :eyebrow:
This thread would have been buried pages back.


Anyways... did you hear Marvel is going to make an Avengers movie? If it's any good, maybe they'll make sequels! :tongue: