Stolen Items from Steven's Auction

Just went to browse Stevens Auctions online and saw this notification:

http://www.stevensauction.com/Stolen.html

The following items were stolen in Birmingham, AL March 21st. They were in route to Stevens Auction for the upcoming auction. Please be on the lookout for these itmes at sales in the southeast. They will most likely turn up at a sale.

The items stolen are listed below:

    * Rosewood Meeks Stanton Hall Parlor suit
    * Two Rosewood Belter side chairs







Thought I would post this here, since Rare Victorian has a lot of viewers...

Thanks formulagal..the items stolen were mine.  My wife and I were staying at a nice hotel in Birmingham, Ala. and our Uhaul trailer was taken off our vehicle during the night and was gone with our furniture the next morning..we were on our way to Stevens with our furniture to put in the auction.  Any help in looking for this furniture out there would be greatly appreciated.  The trailer was stolen blind without the theives knowing what was in the trailer--it was padlocked.  Quite a loss for us...many years of collecting and scrimping and saving, all gone in one night.  :'(

Charles, very sorry to hear this.  I can put a post on the RV home page for you if you'd like with those images asking for dealers/individuals to keep their eyes out.  If you can point out identifying attributes (old repaired crack here, veneer loss here) or better yet, had photos of those areas, we can put together a fairly detailed description.

Please, if this happens to anyone else, let me know ASAP and we'll get the items on the home page before the items are disposed of.

Wow what a loss! Very sorry to hear it as well. 3/21 is still quite recent and they probably have not yet been sold.
I'd watch ebay very closely for quite a while (and use as many favorite searches as you can think of that might be used to describe them - to keep from having to manually check & miss finding the listing(s)) The thieves/ sellers probably won't know they are Meeks & Belter unless they do some research - and the names may not be used in the listing title, so I would try a lot of different searches both with & w/o the names. ie - Most knowlegable owners would describe it as a Meeks parlor suite, but a search for Meeks parlor suite would only find it if all of the words are used in the listing title - think about how the uneducated seller would describe them when searching ebay). If found, either contact ebay directly to locate the seller - or bid until you win (place a ridiculously high bid to guarantee you were the high bidder you'll then find out who the seller is through ebay as the winner. Tell them you want to pay cash when you pick them up (not pay w/ paypal - a lure/ incentive would be that they would save the 3% paypal fee)- then show up w/ the police. Don't need to worry about negative feedback - sellers can no longer leave negative feedback for buyers under most circumstances - if received and the situation/ w/ proof was explained to ebay I'm sure they'd remove it. I'd also do a search for antiques dealers in the area they were taken in and contact/ send them information/ pictures to watch for w/ your contact info (if approached they could possibly get the seller's name & number & tell the sellers they'd like to think about buying them). Lastly I'd watch craigslist - obviously not something most people would sell on craigslist - but who among us would not drool if they saw something like this for an attractive price/ quick sale? These are thieves, and may not be very sophisticated or very knowledgable about selling stuff.
To do a nationwide search on craigslist - go to  http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en  - on the last line that say's "Search within a site or domain:" - type in: craigslist.org - then in the 1st line that says "Find web pages that have...   all these words:", or use line 3 "one or more of these words:" - type in whatever you want to search for An alternative nationwide or area specific search w/ craigslist is: http://www.searchtempest.com/  Good luck - let us know if you have any luck recovering them.    woodwright

Thanks Woodwright-good advice and I will take you up on your suggestions on Craigslist-please go ahead and post on the web site John, I think that that would be great.  The pics that Stevens put up are the only ones I have.  The Meeks parlor set was in perfect condition-no repairs that I could find.  The only one of the pieces that had a repair was the Belter chair and it had a hairline crack across the crest that had been repaired.  Thanks formulagal for posting this for me.  I am headed to Birmingham this weekend to prowl all the antique shops I can find.  The thieves had no idea what was in the trailer when they stole it, as it was padlocked.  I am sure that these thugs probably were dismayed to find out that they had a bunch of "old furniture" when they opened the trailer up--I am betting that they have just tried to dump the stuff locally for a few hundred bucks or have taken the Craigslist angle...they certainly would not know the names or the value of these pieces, and are probably not sophisticated enough to do the research--probably just looking for a few quick bucks for drugs or such.  I will keep everyone posted if we find anything.  Thanks for all your help.  :( Charles.

OK, I have put it up on the main blog.  Everyone should try to post it in forums or on other websites, blogs, etc.  They can link to
http://rarevictorian.com/2009/03/victorian-antique-furniture-stolen-birmingham-al.html
for details.

I would think the police could recover the U-haul.  Not sure if they'd bother to dust for prints or not, but the location of the U-haul may provide a clue as to where the furniture is sold/dumped (at least the town).

Thanks John for putting this up on the website.  I agree on the UHaul.  After talking with UHaul, they said that they have a very high rate of recovery of their vehicles that are stolen..I am heading to Birmingham today for a weekend of prowling antique malls and shops looking for this furniture.  I hope that the thugs didn't just throw these items away assuming that they had no value.  Charles.

Just an update; no luck on locating any of the stolen items yet :(---still checking Craigslist and Ebay daily and scanning auction zip with no luck- :(-please everyone, keep your eyes open for these pieces as these people need to be caught.  Thanks again.  Charles.

Thanks for the update.  I was wonderin'.  We'll keep an eye out, but the reminder is good to keep it fresh in the mind.