It would be great if we all had our own superhero to watch our stuff when we are gone, but the cost is exorbitant for them these days
I have been perusing the internet the past few days, reading lots of forums for guns, knives and flashlight collectors and have noticed some things I wanted to talk about.
It seems like we all (collectors, that is) love to show off our collections online.
Over the last couple days I have viewed some incredible collections of Firearms, High end collectible knives and flashlight collections that could light a airfield (like the MF-1000 can do by itself). They are all on open forums, hooked to a screen name.
That screen name nine times out of ten has a profile connected to it with the hometown of the poster.
Sometimes even the persons real name is also available.
It seems like we all (collectors, that is) love to show off our collections online.
Over the last couple days I have viewed some incredible collections of Firearms, High end collectible knives and flashlight collections that could light a airfield (like the MF-1000 can do by itself). They are all on open forums, hooked to a screen name.
That screen name nine times out of ten has a profile connected to it with the hometown of the poster.
Sometimes even the persons real name is also available.
Now lets say you post up a collection of Vrosapale pistols ( this could be anything, from Hummels to all the different hello kitty dolls) , you are very proud that you have scoured the world to find all models of this unique piece. In the world of VP collectors, you are the king.
A few weeks later you post that you are on your way to the Vrosapale collectors convention half way across the county and you will be off the forums for 5 days. You revel in your Twitter updates about you most recent find at the show, or what a jerk that last guy you dealt with was.
What have you just done?
Have you just told someone that you have valuable items and you will be gone from -to-?
What do you think?
I know you have a huge safe, but don't you think in two days time someone can't get into it, most of the time using tools from your own shop?
What about the other things showing in the pictures, computer systems, flat screens and all the cool movie collectibles in your "man room"?
This picture is all over the internet, first posted on a "how big is your monitor website
I bring this up because years (way too many) ago I was doing the gun show circuit in FL, 51 weekends a year, driving from one end of the state to another, setting up on on Fri, break down and head home Sunday night.
We had a time when a small group would come to the show on Sunday, tag a dealer that had a nice display then wait around till close down and load out and follow him home.
Sometimes they hit as soon as the dealer got home or to his shop, sometimes waiting till the next day if it was a collector who worked during the week.
One dealer got killed and a few got hurt and they didn't stop until they screwed up and got caught.
One dealer got killed and a few got hurt and they didn't stop until they screwed up and got caught.
Now it's 2011, we have Google maps, Google name search, find anyone for 8 dollars and tons of other neat ways to locate an address.
Am I too paranoid? (can you be today?)
I learned to keep every thing collectible or rare at an off-site storage location. That and insurance keeps it away from my self and loved ones
.
It does suck that we can no longer have the "Trophy" rooms of yesteryear.
(even if you never have posted a picture, how about the bug guy, meter reader, the guy who trims your trees.
Do you think they might have looked in the window and passed on how cool your cave was?)
From an AOL article,
Some insurance companies are catching on. Legal & General Insurance in New England says Facebook and Twitter users could be hit with higher homeowner's insurance premiums. Why? All that blabbing about activities away from home means they face a higher risk of burglary.
The company thinks burglars are actually "shopping" for victims on social media sites, looking not only for an indication you're not at home, but also photos of your home and valuables. That cute picture of your son hugging the dog? A burglar is looking in the background, eyeing your big-screen TV and new stereo system.
And it's not just adults. Teenagers are even more likely to post personal information, so Legal & General has warned that parents who aren't even online themselves could face higher homeowner's insurance premiums if their children are online.
Even though I have a overlapping video system with my next door neighbors, a alarm system, Two big dogs and a neighbor on one side who's a Reserve police officer and has a home office where he works that overlooks my house and on the other side is a just retired Navy DEVGRP 20 year man who has nothing better to do than sit on his back porch and shoot guns most of the day (and night, for the past damn week!) I still want to keep the good stuff locked up.
I hate that when I want to review a product for a blog post or get ready to go to a gun match that I have to lay in another 40 mins to go by and pick up what I need, but I would hate to have a shootout at my house or even worse to come home and find what I had worked 40 years for ransacked and off at some pawn shop.
My stuff is pretty safe and yes, I have gone overboard, but it gives me piece of mind that I have done all I can, if I get hit now, that's what insurance is for.
We all love our " babies", and frankly most of us love to show them off. I am worse than 99% of the people in the world for having the collectors bug and wanting to share.
Just remember when you post that Twitter update that your are "at Outback with a two hour wait for a table" you might just be making some bad guys life a little easier.
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