I have recently purchased (end of May), Norfed Euro coin #40. The seller posted it, but it has been stolen while in transit between the US and the UK (the final straw being a torn and empty envelope having only just arrived to me now). US postal service have been close to useless which has added considerable delays. Likelyhood is that this coin may tried to be sold, without the thief realising that it is a uniquely identifiable coin. It may have already happened. So the post is 3 fold Firstly a warning that if you are offered it, it is stolen property, so be careful Secondly, myself and the seller would obviously like it returned, if possible Finally, this is a beautiful coin. If it falls into the wrong hands, it wont be treated with the care that a rare coin like this should have. Any help would be appreciated ... !
Hi! I will reply you here, not in the Norfed thread. I suggest you to register in other big coin collecting forums and post that your coin was stolen. If you have pictures even better. The biggest forum in Europe in German I believe, but can't remember the name. :/ Maybe I will remember it tomorrow. The there is also one held by a forum member: thesilverforum.com I'm not sure how it goes legally in this case but I believe coin is your property after purchasing it. I would fill out report on US police and EU , or Interpol. I still can hardly believe that it was stolen during the transit. :S:S:S:S Express shipping should also cover you the loss.. There are bunch of sites that are similar to eBay. Who know, maybe someone would post it on similar site. I will also forward this info to all Norfed collectors I know. Not many, but better few than none. Good luck!
Could it be http://www.goldseiten-forum.de Valuable small objects like this should be packaged in a box not an envelope. A box totally disguises what is inside it, an envelope does not. It's a wonder that the envelope arrived. That's weird. One may expect a thief to get rid of it / burn / whatever. Empty envelope makes theft sure, not arriving envelope, well, can be lost etc. Are you sure nobody in your direct vincinity opened and stole it?
It could be this forum, not sure. Didn't visit it for very long time. Most of the German speaking people understand at least a little bit of English if not speaking it quite good so I guess you won't have problems with English. Google translate is also not so bad alternative. For me this is also strange. Once it happened that envelope was damaged a little bit and some post on the way put tape around it. It never happened for me that I would receive damaged envelope. At first I would start bothering my local post and then all next to the point where it was sent. In the past I was buying LPs and once mailman stuck it really bad inside the mailbox. It was bent. I called the office, tried not to be totally pissed off. He never did it again. Also where I lived before mailmen were always in "rotation" if you ever see same one after few months... In case you are sure that is was stolen (what else any way) you should notify the police. I guess you bought the coin for at least 1000$. That is not small amount of the money. Dunno who was your seller, but it could happen that it sent empty envelope. Don't want to blame any one or anything, but if buying from eBay or less "known" sellers you need to be careful. I will try to keep 40 in my mind in case I see it someday on eBay or somewhere. Most of the Norfed coins are listed on US eBay any way I believe.
Thanks everyone, I will look at those other forums. When it arrived here, it was in a UK royal mail bag "damaged before entering the UK" So it was either ripped and robbed in the US, somewhere in between the US and the UK, or at the point of entry into the UK Seller is progressing an insurance claim in the US supported by the pictures I have provided. I have no reason not to trust that the seller didnt keep their end of the bargain, and we have good communication throughout. I also have the option of an alternate numbered euro norfed from them as a replacement. So hopefully neither of us will end up out of pocket. But yes I paid somewhere in that region Stark. Its a long shot I / we get it back. But I also want to make sure that someone doesnt make a pile from it. Danny, thanks for your posting http://thesilverforum.com/topic/1337-missing-norfed-euro-40/
What is the weird part in the story: that postmen see a damaged / torn apart and empty envelope and just keep on continuing sending it to its destination address. If I was a postman, no matter US or UK, I'd pick out the envelope, report it to my boss so that he can investigate, and immediately send it back to the sender, the same way the UK postman delivered it to you (bag / declaration). It's like the theft happened in the plane, assuming that this was airmail.
I assume that in my case they sealed it because it was "obvious" that item was still inside. Quite possibly they thought for this package the same, so that only package is damaged. I guess they just want to do it asap. Teleports would solve many problems.
Sending coins in a package instead of an envelop, also solves many problems lol. Coins in an envelope are very recognizable as such. You weight it, you see it, you can press and feel it. It's just begging for theft and it only needs one passing. A high value numismatic coin like this should have never been sent in an envelope. I once bought a small expensive thing on an auction site, easily fitting in a standard sized envelopen, but I explicitly asked to put it in a package. It costed me more but % of value based still neglectable. A package routes out alot risk, since it completely hides what is inside, could be a book, a dvd, anything.
Yep, very strange the envelope completed its journey, minus the coin .... but at least it provided a piece of evidence for the insurance claim - especially with Royal Mail bagging and labelling as damaged I have only ever had 3 coins go missing. 2 of those were lost whilst in the custody of USPS. Both with full tracking on them. Agreed, high value coins, box them up. Make it harder work to identify, and also then quickly access or conceal.
And the one you bought it from, the seller, should have realized that. Come on, a Norfed original sent in an envelope. It's just a shame, careless is probably the best word for it. Just put yourself in his place, would you send such a coin in a simple envelope? It could even have been tossing around in it. Could have damaged the envelope itself that way. You didn't specify it so far, so maybe I'm wrong here, was it the simplest envelope? No reinforced envelope / coated with buffer material etc? I bought many common coins that were sent in ordinary envelopes, but most of the senders sticked them on hardboard double folded so that you didn't see any coin shape anymore. That was also a good way, for common coins then.
