A very sad day in my M history

What a drag. Everyone is absolutely spot-on with their comments about your safety and your lost stuff just being material objects and all but it still hurts. I had some light fingered **** steal my Leica CL and a Horizont panorama camera nearly 30 years ago and it still honks me off. What was really galling was I'm sure this moron had no idea what he had and what it was worth. I'd be checking your local pawn shops and Craig's List as dogberryjr suggests.

Steve
 
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Odd coincidence. I met a local photographer/reseller today who happened to have have an extremely beat up M3. He picked it up as a nice paperweight after someone had dropped it out of a car on the freeway or something along those lines.
 
The most important things in life are not things. What you lost can be replaced. Hopefully there is insurance, but even if there isn't, your story could have been much worse and truly tragic, if there was personal injury or death involved. In that sense, you were lucky.
 
flip said:
If you're lucky, perhaps circulating the serial numbers at local shops will expose someone looking for a quick flip for cash.
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Second that recommendation. When the detritivore that sifted through your bag discovers that he isn't the proud owner of a digicam, he may try to unload it for a few bucks at a photo shop or a pawnshop.
 
I share your pain. But cases like this just show us how much we get attached to ... things. I know I do.

I hope a nice MP will cross your path soon and your days get brighter.
 
wow, sorry for your loss. i'll keep an eye on CL for you, i usually check it for camera stuff a couple times a day.

i once came within inches of running over a fratboy at about 100mph on the 5 coming back from LA. one of his buddies threw a cd wallet out the window and this idiot ran out into the road to pick it up. it was a blind turn in the grapevine and i swear my car shuddered from coming so close to him. i was going so fast i didn't even have a chance to go for the brakes.

at least you didn't do something like that. all of your stuff can be replaced eventually, you cannot.

bob
 
what a terrible story. glad you're okay. as others have said more eloquently than I, this too shall pass. we're not the sum of our stuff (even on this gear-obsessed board).
 
Very sad indeed. I myself travel on two wheels most times so your experience has made me evaluate my storage method. I would imagine that your sharing has helped many others try to prevent such a thing from happening, though this isn't always possible.
 
UPDATE:

So I got a call yesterday, from someone who said that they saw my Craigslist ad. They had apparently bought a camera and a computer at a local truck stop for $150 and when he realized what the stuff was worth it didn't make sense to him so he looked it up. He asked me to verify the serial number of the computer and after I read it off to him he said that yes, it was the very same.

He mentioned he was a truck driver from the midwest and that he was on the road but he'd be happy to ship it back to me when he stopped for the day. I checked the number and it appeared to be a cell phone purchased in Chicago so the story sounded very plausible.

For about half a day, I was overjoyed. He said he had no problem returning it to me and I of course offered to pay him the $150 he lost & offer a reward for calling in. I can't tell you the emotional high I was on for a few hours, just couldn't believe how great it was. Long story short, there were signs both ways, that it was real & that it could be a scam, but of course for all the signs of it being a scam I ignored it because I was on such an emotional roller coaster with the idea of getting my stuff back. My hard drive, my film, the camera itself … it was all too much.

However, after my 3rd phone call with him I started to become slightly suspicious, so just right before he was about to give me instructions on how I could get money to him, I asked him to just quickly verify the serial number on the top of the camera. I said it was because I just quickly wanted to make sure it was *my* stuff. At that point he all the sudden got really defensive saying this was all too complicated and he didn't want to be involved, blah, blah, blah … obviously backpedaling. Kept swearing he never asked me for anything, etc… I was so bummed. I the end the guy did not have my stuff, he was just some scum with a disposable cell phone trying to prey on people and earn a few bucks.

Later that day a friend told me that he actually fell for the same scam once, the Truck stop western union scam is what he called it. But his was for a lost iPod so he wasn't out a ton of money, but still, I felt pretty stupid.

The good news is I never paid the guy anything, the bad news being I had already given him my home address. Bleh.

What an emotional day it was. And it was my birthday none-the-less :(
 
Thanks for the update, Joshua, and the interesting twist to the tale. Now on to better luck...
 
Dón't you have insurance on the expensive gear?
Sorry for your loss.
Good that you are doing well.

Take care.
 
insurance...that's a very good idea, even for a non-professional. does anyone insure their cameras? give us all the juicy details!
 
nah, the Matrix is fiction ;)

Perhaps he was actually going faster than he indicated, approaching the speed of light. In this case, his MP and backpack are going to be shorter in length, and mass, causing less impact, allowing the drivers behind him to easily scoop up the minty goods and dispose of the backpack and $1K jacket, making an easy $150 profit in coordination with their local friendly truck driver.
 
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