BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Sorry to hear about that. It might be good to keep an eye on Craigslist / musical instrument listings for a few weeks? If the friend has homeowner's or renter's insurance, it might be covered?

When my banjo was stolen, it ended up in a pawnshop in Braddock. I had a choice - I could go through the whole legal process and take a year to get it back - or I could pay the pawnshop guy the $30 he paid for it. (I'm betting the pawnbroker got $10 buck profit, anyhow.)

Might be a good place to check.

I know almost nothing about pawnshops, but agree that is the first place to look. I am reasonably certain he has those bases covered, but he's from out of town, with limited knowledge of the 'burgh so I take nothing for granted. As in Mick's case, I am certain he'd cover the pawnshop's cost for the banjo......rather than fight the long fight to reclaim it as "legal owner."

Thanks for the personal story, Mick.

I regret that I don't have anything to add that might help, but...

seriously? I mean Banjos are wicked awesome, but are they B&E awesome? I mean how many GPSs, MP3s, cell phones, trucks with tools, & backpacks with laptops did the guy pass up to finally spot a banjo to nab? I'd have thought that those other items might also net someone more than $20 at the pawn shop. Thieves suck.

Hope he finds it quickly and easily, and in good repair.

Back in the 90's John Gorka had his custom made Martin stolen from a car outside of Ritter's. It was recovered at the pawn shop over on the North Side. John wrote a song about it, "Grand Larceny". I couldn't find a non-popup to hell link, but its worth a listen for some of John's dry humor.

I had 2 guitars stolen that ended up in a pawnshop on East Ohio St (Main Loan?). I called all the pawnshops looking for my stuff and this one was not very forthcoming over the phone. So I went over and pretended to be a customer and looked around. When the guy asked me what I was looking for I asked if he had any other guitars not on display and he went in back and pulled out my guitars. I called the detective that took my police report and he contacted the pawnshop. They gave him the name and driver license number of the person who pawned them at the store. I had to give the pawnshop $80 to get them back.

The Pgh Police has something called the Pawn Division. If you want to do business as a pawnshop in the City you have to send in reports of items that are purchase and they are entered in to a database. They are also supposed to do a cross check for recent reported burglaries. Pawnshops are required to hold anything they buy for 30 days before they can resell it.

If it weren't for burglaries, pawn shops would be few and far between.

Great tip, Greasefoot. I'll make sure my out of town friend knows about the pawn department, if he doesn't already.

Thanks all! I knew you guys would be a) supportive, and b) full of great information. I've gottago dig up the John Gorka song now....!

Keep valuables in your car trunk where they are safe. And record serial number or engrave your valuables. Photos help to recover stolen items.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWa0dZMHYeE&NR=1

Someone broke into my car outside Graffiti once, and stole my backpack. All I had in it were some clothes. They must have been pissed. They cleaned out all my change too.

Somoene else broke into my car when I lived down by Allderdice. Took a hammer and punched the locks on the doors and trunk through the sheet metal, so dispute the trunk being a "safe" place. After that, I had no locks, so leaving anything valuable in the car wasn't an option. There's probably a lesson there.

and if you've got a hatchback or SUV, the "trunk" is no more secure than the passenger compartment...

salty, that's surprising about Sq'ill - that's unusual for the area, they may have been looking for something specific, or thought hey were avenging something.

In our driveway in Squirrel Hill we had items taken from our car twice. First time I noticed the snow had melted on the rood above the light. Someone had taken our parking change from the unlocked carbut they did not fully close the door.

The 2nd time we discovered our battery was gone from the locked car after we called AAA for a jump.

Yeah, no part of the city (or suburbs, for that matter) is immune to stupid petty theft.

someone stole my fricking 30 gal air compressor out of my garage last year. My garage has no door, but it's not really visible from any street - you have to walk a while down a dead-end alley in view of a bunch of houses. oh, and they took my battery charger too which really sucks when you only drive your car every couple months and frequently need to charge the battery. wtf?