Assuming of course that the thief actually knows what (s)he’s got. Could be that they just did a quick and general ransacking of the dressing room, grabbing bags and such. If Kevin was out on stage at the time of the theft, it’s likely that the new flute was all packed up and stuffed in a bag of some sort. If that’s the case, the thief might open the bag, see the flute and not realize what it’s worth. (Although from the description I’ve seen, it does sound rather impressive, and surely it still looks brand spanking new.) Then, in a worst case scenario, the thief might just dump it for whatever (s)he can get at a pawnshop or somesuch, where again it might not be recognized for what it is and never come to the attention of the serious flute community.
Let’s hope that and other equally bleak scenarios don’t take place, though, and Kevin gets his flute back! I’m due to see him when Lunasa hits here for a gig next weekend, and I doubt he’ll be his normal effervescent self with this hanging over his head. He’ll probably still be working through the seven stages of grief. What a senseless loss…
I think that’s most likely what happened. I think the main hope now is that the thief either abandons the stuff somewhere and it’s found, or dumps it in a pawn shop and somebody recognizes it.
You never know what folks are going to do with a stolen instrument. They could pawn it, fence it, or toss it.
Last year some folks were staying in dorms at Glasgow Univeristy in Scotland while competing at the World Pipe Band Championships. Their room was broken into and their bagpipes were lifted. They searched the premises and found the bagpipes stashed on the roof.
So Mr. Crawford could, with help, keep an eye on the pawn shop activity and scour the venue to see if perhaps they were stashed somewhere.
Well, all this craziness didn’t stop them from playing a great set of gigs at the Potomac Celtic Festival this past weekend! They were unstoppable, even in the face of utter chaos!
By the way, hi everyone, I’m new to the message forum - first post!
