I’m trying to enjoy the irony that I came here to ask about my missing Hamilton and my missing Murray thread has been resurrected; it must be my karma.
Anyway, I did a flute swap for a Murray and just recently swapped back, despairing of ever getting the Murray I paid for. So when we swap back my Hamilton disappears. The post office says it will turn up, but it’s been over a month and I call and call and they keep telling me they will let me know when they find it.
My suspicion at this point is that it was stolen. So if anybody sees a blackwood Hamilton with two headjoints go by on Craig’s list, ebay, or such, could you let me know? I can’t imagine there are a lot of Hamiltons with two headjoints floating around. If you bought one recently, my loss, I’d still like to know how you got it.
Do you have a record of the serial numbers? Mine has one stamped under the end plug, and I believe this is his standard practice. It would make it easier to identify if you do find a flute you think might be yours. In your case, I guess it would be two numbers.
Best of luck for a speedy and safe return.
As the sender, I can say for sure that the Hammy sent to Eric was not packed with two head joints, and so any information about a blackwood, keyless Hammy would be most welcome. Thanks!
The fact that the ebay seller is basically a pawn shop in Columbus is highly suggestive. Your flute goes missing, and suddenly a local pawn shop is flogging a Hammy Hamilton flute on ebay? I’d look into that.
“Highly suggestive.” Yes, I couldn’t agree more. I have contacted the seller and asked that they at least hold off on selling the flute until Eric can talk to them. I don’t know whether they will, but at least I have asked.
I don’t know if pawn shops take pains to avoid peddling “hot” merchandise, but I imagine that they don’t want the police involved (assuming the police would bother).
Well, they didn’t accept my offer. I comnented that it was priced high (same as new w/ missing, usually included case.). Was your top tenon cork in that condition?
Is the post office still showing that the package is still supposedly in their care? If someone stole it while it was in transit it is a federal offense.
Yes, it might be a federal offense. The Columbus PD and a postal inspector are trying to figure out who has jurisdiction; it depends on where it was stolen i guess. The postal inspector said it might have been stolen internally or it might have been stolen off the back of a truck
Isn’t the pawn shop required by law to hold an item for a period of time before offering it for sale? If you are in the same city, why not go in there and look at the flute in person? If they refuse, call the police. Smells fishy to me.
They must be cursing right now if they’ve had to pull it off ebay! They stood to make a tidy profit Sounds a lot like an opportunistic bit of thievery if the thief didn’t bother to find out the value of what they stole. A blind grab followed by a hasty sale.
Part of the reason I don’t put my business name on any of my shipping labels is so I don’t give any hint of the contents. I know another flute maker who at one time had these really nice, custom shipping labels that announced to the world that the package was carrying one of his hand-crafted flutes. He ditched those rather quickly when a couple of flutes went missing in transit. His customers received the shipping tube full of nothing but wadded up newspaper…
Sounds like the police are already involved. The ebay listing is gone, so presumably the pawn shop pulled it down when they were advised that it was stolen?
Yes, right now it is on a “police hold.” I’m trying to find out what that means… but it seems in the short term it means he can’t sell it. I’m not sure it means I can get it back, but the postal inspector told me they are going to press charges.
Ok, for anyone still interested, I got the Hammy back today
It took numerous calls the the police, a friend called the postal inspector for me, and I emailed the Columbus PD detectives through the process at least once a week, but today I went and paid $20 to a pawn shop to get my Hammy back.
