One of the joys of collecting baseball cards is amassing some that have some financial value to go along with their aesthetic appeal. The downside is that those same cards often make attractive targets for would-be thieves.
Bart Dillow of Lillington, NC, a small town in the central part of the state, found that out the hard way this past Tuesday. Robbers broke into his house in the early afternoon and stole his collection of around 11,000 baseball and football cards with a reported value of $40,000.
Among the stolen cards were Nolan Ryan, Alex Rodriguez and Brett Favre rookie cards, plus some graded and autographed cards. Dillow's collection was stored in 16 boxes, and he believes the thieves knew exactly what to take.
"They came in my house and went right for them," Dillow said to the Fayetteville Observer. "They took a lot of high-dollar cards."
Nearby pawn shops were advised to look out for anyone trying to sell the stolen cards. Also taken in the theft were jewelry and $400 in cash.
With the economy still in the midst of a strong recession, sports cards continue to make the news as popular items for robbers to hone in on. They're small - Dillow's whole collection was apparently taken away in an emptied laundry basket - and can easily be sold in anonymity online, even in a soft market for cards and collectibles.
