FORVM`s Classical Numismatics Discussion Board
Numismatic and History Discussion Forums => Ancient Coin Forum => Topic started by: Joe Sermarini on March 19, 2014, 12:05:25 pm
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Received by email:
Good afternoon,
My name is Michael Creusy, my family has been in the ancient coin business for more than 40 years. Our entire merchandise was stolen on the way back from Paris last Saturday.
If you could help us spread our story, please don't hesitate to contact us, or write about what happened to us.
Here is what happened :
It took place after the Bi-Annual Numismatic Exhibition in Paris when a Numismat family were on route back home and were robbed over 1 million euros of antique and modern coins.
It was one of the largest heists to have ever occured in the world of Numismatics. This organized crime has definitely struck the world of Numismatic, antique dealers and jewelers.
The Creusy family is from Lyon, France. For decades they have dedicated their lives to Numismatics, a business passed on from father to son. The financial loss, though significant isn’t the worst that happened. The real misfortune is what will become of these unique and rare coins. It is most likely that these unique pieces will be melted or resold, « thousands of years of history lost » stated by 65 year old Joel Creusy who has dedicated his life for 42 years to Numismatics. In the collection of coins, an original denarius from Galba struck in Carthage and a Charles IV Salut struck in gold in Paris are just two examples of these many unique and rare pieces that were stolen. Collectors and antiquity dealers fight every year in auctions to buy these pieces.
« Our profession has become one of the most risky in France. The insurance companies no longer provide coverage while the coins are in transit, and as a result it leaves us out of work. » exclaimed the manager of the antiquity store, Michael Creusy the eldest 34 year old son who now finds himself in a situation of bankrupty after the incident.
The Creusy family offers a reward in the amount of 80,000 euros for anyone who could help us by providing any information regarding our collection. « All our collegues in Europe need to keep their eyes and ears open. For those in our profession, we must unite to fight against organized crime» adds Joel Creusy.
It is a situation that has placed people in this particular profession more frequently at risk. These criminals are armed and well-equiped with the latest GPS technology system and would go as far as to track down these merchants on the their way home to steal all their merchandise.
After 40 years in the Numismatic profession the Creusy family must now start from ground zero. With the hope of recovering their collection they will offer free estimations for the value of the coins to those who contact them. « It is truly a rare and unique collection of coins that will take years to recover, we lost 25 years of work » stated by Martine Creusy a Numismatic for 40 years.
Contact :
Website : http://www.numismeo.com/
List of stolen coins : http://www.numismeo.com/
Email : michael.creusy@live.com
Phone : +33 4 78 37 63 20
Address : 14 rue vaubecour, 69002 Lyon, France.
Sources :
Charles VI Salut d’or struck in Paris
Denarius of Galba struck in Carthage
Thanks in advance for your assistance.
Best regards,
Michael Creusy
Numismeo.com
michael.creusy@live.com
+33 4 78 37 63 20
14 rue vaubecour,
69002 Lyon, France.
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Sounds terrible. Are the story and the email legitimate? I only ask because I've never heard of these dealers and often emails that says "help us spread our story" are jokes. If legitimate, the family should put any available photos of the coins on a website and circulate the url to the numismatic community. Just telling the story won't get their coins back!
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Michael Creusy is a very respected, honest, friendly and knowledgeable coin dealer. It saddens my heart to hear about this theft and his and his family's loss.
If you check Creusy's website, you will find pictures of the stolen coins.
Lars
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Thanks Lars. I now see "List of stolen coins" and the url deep in the email. Very sad story. We should all keep an eye out for recognizable items.
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Yes a very sad story
I know them personnaly, they're reputated and respected dealers in Lyon (France).
I do hope they will recover their stock which is huge and very valuable
JC
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Sad. This is terrible news. Unfortunately he's right. The gold probably will be melted down to hide it's origin unless the thieves already have buyers lined up for the pieces. There is a whole other world out there most of us will never know. Scary stuff. Be safe everyone. It's not worth Risking your life...Hopefully some of the pieces will be recovered if they try putting them on the market.
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I'm quite taken aback by this sad news. I've had several dealings over the years with them and agree with Lars and JC - an honest and upstanding dealer.
Hopefully the coins can be recovered.
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Wouldn't it make sense for dealers to hire armed guards when moving large portions of their stock? It would be worth the cost if insurance doesn't cover the coins when in transit. Although, then the thieves might just shoot everyone and take the goods anyway. I hope they recover from this loss, they sound like good folks.
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Wouldn't it make sense for dealers to hire armed guards when moving large portions of their stock? It would be worth the cost if insurance doesn't cover the coins when in transit. Although, then the thieves might just shoot everyone and take the goods anyway. I hope they recover from this loss, they sound like good folks.
Armed guards are not so easily available in Europe, nor are they necessarily useful, because even a legally armed guard may not be permitted to fire to prevent theft, unless his own or others' life was endangered. It would also draw a massive amount of attention to the shipment. One also has to think of parallel contexts: many collectors and dealers entering and leaving NYINC might have had similarly valuable coins at hand, yet I saw very few guards of any kind at NYINC and certainly no heavy-handed security presence. It may be more appropriate to hire a security company e.g. Securicor, to transport the shipment. They would likely use hardened containers with embedded GPS tracking and various other soft measures to protect for the 10 metres between door and security van. If carrying coins oneself, one can consider personal protocols for travel and security, e.g. not using one's personal vehicle to transport the coins, moving in a well lit area, splitting the shipment, supervision, planning travel routes, having the better coins in a personal travel belt etc. This was also a relatively unusual group of coins, consisting mostly of gold. Not a typical numismatic cross-section. Even then, its value if melted is relatively low - not enough for thieves to risk very much - and the value as easily identified ancient coins almost zero. Shipments of mobile phones would generally be far more attractive to thieves. For very good reasons we'll probably not hear more details of the theft - one doesn't want to advertise details - but it wouldn't surprise me if there was some slackness in travel and security protocols that might easily enough have been addressed.
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One also has to think of parallel contexts: many collectors and dealers entering and leaving NYINC might have had similarly valuable coins at hand, yet I saw very few guards of any kind at NYINC and certainly no heavy-handed security presence. It may be more appropriate to hire a security company e.g. Securicor, to transport the shipment.
They have a significant armed security team of off duty and retired NYC cops at NYINC. They are, however, only within the coin show area, not in the lobby, etc. and don't help much for the trip home. Using a security company is good idea.
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Armed guards would be plain illegal in the UK.
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Armed guards would be plain illegal in the UK.
Hi folks,
That's a silly law. Why am I not surprised (that some government out there passed a silly law)?
About 30 years ago, my next door neighbor was a coin collector (American coins, not ancients) and dealer. He was the person who referred me to the ANA in circa 1998 and sponsored me. One day, in the early 1980s, he took his collection to a coin show. He returned home uneventfully. He decided to temporarily store his collection in his house overnight. Thieves must have followed him home. At about 3:00 AM, they broke into his house via his his front/kitchen window. One thief put a gun to his infant's head (in his crib). Another thief opened his bedroom door, turned the lights on, and stuck a gun to his head. My neighbor had a gun stashed in his bedroom, where he could reach for it and grab it from his bed within a matter of seconds. But, by the time he realized what was going on, it was too late. Before he had a chance to even think, the thieves already had a gun to his head and another gun to his infant's head.
They stole his entire coin collection. After they left his house, he took off after them in his car, and he tried to chase them. But they were gone. Not one piece from his collection was ever recovered.
Meepzorp
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Armed guards would be plain illegal in the UK.
That's a silly law. Why am I not surprised (that some government out there passed a silly law)?
In the UK the thieves probably wouldn't be using guns either, if the prevalence of gun-related homicide per million people is any indication: UK 0.4: US 36.0 (wikipedia). Not arming security guards, or for that matter, the police, apparently correlates with safer outcomes in some environments. But anyway Robert wasn't trying to argue the merits of arming guards, just pointing out that it wouldn't happen in the UK. France might differ.