MY DAUGHTER'S ROBBERY

 

     My daughter Suzy had a strange experience a few years ago. (Suzy is also a 'Suzanne' who  goes by Suzy too, but she is Suzy with a 'y' and I'm an 'ie'.) Since she is is a teacher, she is gone most of the day. One day while at school, she was the victim of a daytime robbery. The thief came in through a screened patio where her three dogs spent the day. Somehow he got past the dogs and broke in through the side kitchen door. She decided he must have been either on foot or on a bike because he only took Items that could be carried easily. The television was still there, as was the computer. He did find some of her good jewelry as well as some of her daughter's. He also got most of the sterling silver flatware that I had given her years ago.

     Many years ago when silver was still cheap, I bought each of my five girls a set of silver flatware around the time of their 21st birthday. Our family has always enjoyed setting a fancy table with the 'good' china and silver on holidays and other special occasions. I knew it would also be a good investment if they ever needed to sell it and I was right. I bought all of the sets second-hand at various antique shows and I know I got good buys.  Since some of them were monogrammed, they were even less expensive than the ones without initials.  Monograms on anything antique has never bothered me. After all, it could have belonged to an ancestor. Think about it. Would you get rid of your great-grandmother's solid gold locket because it had her initials instead of yours?

     But, back to the robbery. Suzy kept her silver in a wooden chest. The thief found the chest, (which would be too bulky to carry) and took all of the forks and spoons, leaving the knives behind. The handles of table knives are always hollow.  These days, a strong epoxy is used to secure the

blade in the handle. Before epoxy was used, they were filled with a type of cement. (By the way, that's why you should never put the knives in the dishwasher. Overtime, the blade can come loose.) The thief obviously knew that because of the filling in the handles, the knives could not be melted down for the silver value. However what he didn't know was that the silver he stole had a greater value than just the scrap (melted) value. Suzy's silver pattern was made by Towle. Towle Silversmiths can trace its roots back to the year 1690. Today it is owned by the Lifetime Brands corporation,  but it remains one of the country's most important silver manufacturers. Suzy especially liked her pattern which dated back to 1895 and is no longer being made. However, it can still be ordered and custom made at exorbitant prices with a promised delivery date of 18 months! If the thief had known, he would have taken the knives. He also made the mistake of dropping one of the 12 forks on his way out which had the monogram "F".

     Anyway, Suzy was devastated by the theft. I felt so bad for her. I decided to go on the computer and do a search for the silver. I thought if I could find any of the pieces, I would start buying them one at a time as birthday and Christmas gifts and eventually she would have at least a small set.  My first try was to look on the eBay  website. If you aren't familiar with eBay, it is a place on the internet where  anyone can sell or buy both new and old or even antique items.  I went on the site and on the search bar, I typed in "Towle silver." I was pleasantly surprised to find a few pieces. One seller had 3 spoons in Suzy's Old Colonial pattern. Another had a salad fork. I continued to scroll down through the listings when...oh my gosh!...There was a listing that read..."Set of Towle Old Colonial silver - Monogramed with an 'F' - missing knives and one fork." I couldn't believe it! Someone was selling Suzy's silver! 

     I called her immediately and she called the police. The police got the address of the seller's home from his eBay listing.  It seems the thief had met the seller at a local hotel and told him that he had his 'grandmother's' silver for sale. The seller bought it for a low price and that's how it had come to be on eBay. The police confiscated the silver as evidence and eventually returned it to Suzy. They were able to find the thief and arrested him. Apparently, he is still in jail and Suzy will be notified whenever he comes up for parole. 

     I've always loved mysteries in books and in movies and television shows that have a surprise ending, but I had never expected to live one. That was quite a plot twist!