found stolen mantles to my soon to be house

[ellik]

OK.... would take 5 pages to type the whole thing out, but to make a long story short.... the 3 missing mantles stolen out of the house I am buying were found by a coworker of mine... he described them and we went over and looked... didnt match the one (out of 4) that was left in the house so I passed it off.... well, I came back to the office and pulled up pictures and it wasnt until then that I realized that the one mantle left (dining room) was an oddball but the two bedroom mantles and the main living room one matched the 3 the guy had perfectly... 2 low surrounds and the kicker is the main one has full height columns with an intersecting curved sill and beveled mirror above that is kind of rare due to the particular way it was done.... the shop owner even said it was... thats why he bought it. Well, this rare mahogany mantle is a perfect match and the timeframe that they recieved them matches up too. Problem... he sold the main mantle and the purchaser is driving up from North Carolina TOMARROW to take ownership.....
Ive placed a call to my agent, she to the sellers agent trying to figure out what to do. Anyway, Im going to be donwn there tomarrow morning with pictures trying to stop the sale so I can reclaim them and get them put back into the right house.

ugh... short version even took a long time... but anyway, had a VERY active afternoon on the phone and tracking all this **** down.

[RallyRed 98]

geeze, who would have thought you could buy hot antiques...
hope you get it all back! those were some sharp pieces

[Linxs]

You need to get the police involved. That will stop the sale tomorrow. If the current owners have not filed a police report then have them do it NOW. If they do not want to file you'll know who took and sold the mantles.

[97chevycamaro]

Id just load up my 22 and go down there and take them, but my course of actions have been known to fail everytime in the past. Good life qoute is do the opposite of what scm does

[ellik]

Originally posted by RallyRed 98:
geeze, who would have thought you could buy hot antiques...

my wife thought the same thing.... until she found out the prices of them.... They are worth over a grand a piece for the small ones... the guy told me the price he had on the main one that they NC people want was $1600 and their prices are low by antique market standards. A crackhead could even get a $100 in a heartbeat. New replacements would be in excess of $2500 a piece to have them built.

anyway... the dealer is supposed to be a fairly reputable guy.... I talked to him and he is trying to get ahold of the North Carolina buyers and tell them there may be a problem and postpone them... he wants me to come over in the morning with pictures. If the pictures match... we will go from there. Its just I am 99.5% sure this is a match.

If they are the ones, that means the dealer has to turn them over, is out whatever money he paid... and has to deal with the fact that other things he has bought off this same guy and sold may have been hot as well. I spoke with the third party guy that sells stuff there too, he said he was talking with him after I spoke with him letting him know that they may indeed be the ones. He asked him what he's going to do if they are.... he stated about the only thing he can do is find the guy that he bought them off and have his kneecaps broke. After meeting this guy this afternoon, I dont think I would put that past him. lol.

anyway... now to post on my TSP PCM. [img]graemlins/rock.gif[/img]

PS. I'd take more than a .22 to get them back..... you never know what they have sitting behind the counter for such things. [img]smile.gif[/img]
besides.... Im still sort of a third party here.... Im about to own the house that they were previously stolen from vs. stolen from me. Either way, I want them back!!!

[Ian]

get the police involved ASAP! let them know its a definate thing that they can catch the person, and its an easy bust for them.

[Machiavelli]

wait.. arent mantles the things that go over your fireplace?

[jc Kyle]

yeah but there are different types.. can they be curved to? I thought they held things?

[Machiavelli]

you can steal them???

[ellik]

well... they can be either a simple shelf above a fireplace, or in this case the entire carved wooden surround and shelf and mirror above. Some are also made of marble. There are wrought iron hooks set in the masonry of the fireplace and the mantles have straps anchored into the back and more of less get "hung" on the fireplace.

[ellik]

Im going over with pictures to identify them in about an hour... just to be 100% sure rather than 99.5% sure before I call the police.

[ellik]

just got back.... those are it. from the style of the pieces to the paint chips on it matching the walls of the house, to the iron strap in the top left corner that was ripped out and still hanging on the hook on the fireplace.
The guy is going to hold them and were contacting the insurance company to get them to agree as well, then informing the cops and tracking down the guy that sold them to him. Get this... wasnt even a cash transaction... paid by check. stupid thieves.

[black98V6]

well if this dude does have stolen merchandise it is in his best interest to cooperate, because once he sells it he becomes an accessory to the crime (hope I spelled that right). I believe in most states it's illegal to sell stolen goods whether you know they are stolen or not.