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Fountain Pen Crime In Berkeley, Ca


Mister John

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An Open Letter to the Fountain Pen Community:

 

Dear Fountain Pen Afficianados:

 

It is a very sad day for me. I am a professor at UC Berkeley who loves fountain pens. I was upset to find my office broken into and my fountain pen collection, consisting of more than 50 pens, stolen. The thieves seemed to know what they were doing as they located some pens in rather non-obvious places.

 

Some highlights of the collection at a Namiki Owl limited edition, a wide array of Pelikans from the 50s and 60s, and a Lamy Persona, a long discontinued model of wonderful design. Also in the collection were a Sheaffer Legacy with touchdown filler, a Sheaffer Intrigue in whale shark, and some lovely Omas Arco pens. Another unusual item is a Waterman Opera pen, a 1990 version of the Man 100 with lovely chasing. One item of strong sentimental value is a 1989 Montblanc 146.

 

If you see such items suddenly turn up on eBay or offered for sale at a retail store, please alert the police. The theft is UCPD case #14-01720 and the phone # is 510-642-6760.

 

I miss my collection greatly and will pay a handsome reward for its return. Please help me recover it.

 

Sincerely,

 

John Morgan

 

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John, so sorry to hear about this. I'm sure they will pop up on eBay, scums like that almost always unload their loot for sale within 48 hours. Keep your eyes peeled, I hope you can find most of them :(

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John: I hate to hear about your loss. I would like to send you a pen to help rebuild your collection. Please send me your address and I'll post the pen in the mail tomorrow.

Kind Regards, coffeetoofull

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What an awesome gesture coffee. One of the many reasons I love this forum ;)

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50 pens in your school office is look like you've been targeted! If you’ve been targeted is more like someone who you know, unfortunately.

Anyway sorry for your loss!

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So sorry to hear about the loss of your pens. Just terrible. :(

I hope you are able to continue your collecting in the future.

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check the ebay listing, 'shipping from ca usa' etc etc and be on alert for those descriptions of the pen he said, becasue some have uniqueness. Do any have a visible dings or scratches?

'The Yo-Yo maneuver is very difficult to explain. It was first perfected by the well-known Chinese fighter pilot Yo-Yo Noritake. He also found it difficult to explain, being quite devoid of English.

So we left it at that. He showed us the maneuver after a sort. B*****d stole my kill.'

-Squadron Leader K. G. Holland, RAF. WWII China.

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Dear all,

 

Thanks for all the outpouring of sympathy. I really appreciate it. The collection took years to build up and security in the office was supposed to be good.

 

I too suspect an inside job. Perhaps unfairly, I suspect that the cleaning staff, who have regular access to the office, told their "friends" about the possibilities. The thieves were pros, removing the wooden window pane to carefully remove the glass from my office door so as not to make any noise and then letting themselves in. They left pretty much everything else save for the pens. To top it off, they left a cotton cloth on my desk they presumably used to wipe away fingerprints. What awful people to do such a thing.

 

I've already started scouring ebay, but to no avail so far.

 

To coffeetoofull, you are very kind. I will PM you my posting address--what a wonderful gesture.

 

John

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So much scandal at UC Berkeley recently x_x Wasn't it very recently that a worker from UC Berkeley had withdrawn thousands of dollars from private donations for her child's private school education?

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john

 

does any of these pens have visible dings or scruffs that makes it unique so we can look out for those and alert proper authories

'The Yo-Yo maneuver is very difficult to explain. It was first perfected by the well-known Chinese fighter pilot Yo-Yo Noritake. He also found it difficult to explain, being quite devoid of English.

So we left it at that. He showed us the maneuver after a sort. B*****d stole my kill.'

-Squadron Leader K. G. Holland, RAF. WWII China.

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So sorry to learn of your loss. May your pens be quickly recovered, and the thieves apprehended.

 

Another thing is to notify antique stores and pawn shops to be on the lookout for someone wanting to sell them pens. They do not like to take stolen merchandise.

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So sorry to learn of your loss. May your pens be quickly recovered, and the thieves apprehended.

 

Another thing is to notify antique stores and pawn shops to be on the lookout for someone wanting to sell them pens. They do not like to take stolen merchandise.

 

Aw yes, I forgot about this. When my laptop was stolen I notified all pawn shops or second hand stores where you could walk in and sell or trade stuff in a 10 mile radius. Doing this plus monitoring ebay should yield you at least a few hits on some of your pens

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if they are caught its 15 years because of the value, and its a felony

 

but in my world. its a bullet in back of the head. .20 cents beats hundred of thousands of tax payers money

Edited by GTOZack

'The Yo-Yo maneuver is very difficult to explain. It was first perfected by the well-known Chinese fighter pilot Yo-Yo Noritake. He also found it difficult to explain, being quite devoid of English.

So we left it at that. He showed us the maneuver after a sort. B*****d stole my kill.'

-Squadron Leader K. G. Holland, RAF. WWII China.

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oh and craigslist too!

'The Yo-Yo maneuver is very difficult to explain. It was first perfected by the well-known Chinese fighter pilot Yo-Yo Noritake. He also found it difficult to explain, being quite devoid of English.

So we left it at that. He showed us the maneuver after a sort. B*****d stole my kill.'

-Squadron Leader K. G. Holland, RAF. WWII China.

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How could we forget craigslist!

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/606/letterji9.png

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And yes. Due to the value it's grand larceny on top of breaking and entering.

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/606/letterji9.png

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Craigslist is an excellent idea. I don't know about pawn shops since I've never encountered any on my walks around the campus. But it would surprise me if none existed--I'll check these out too.

 

Unfortunately (for me), I was super careful with the bulk of my collection. I cannot recall any distinctive dings or scratches, The only real distinction is that a Parket 51 that was stolen had the wrong jewel in the cap--it was a pearlish plastic that was not original.

 

Thanks for the helpful ideas.

 

@GTOZack -- the way I'm feeling right now, I strongly favor your solution.

 

 

Joh n

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