Community Chat

[MikafromTopeka]

It's come to our attention that boxes containing our old family photographs from the early 1900's California have been stolen and are popping up online for sale. We had a tip that some of them were listed on Ebay. I did a quick search of Ebay but didn't find anything nor do I have any idea really on how to start searching.

Any advice on sites to search for this type of thing? or general search terms? I have family names, city, range of years but anything else that might help?

Fortunately the items donated to the local historical society had already been sorted out and delivered. The items and photos were stolen by step children of the person who inherited it so it's not a matter for the police unless he chooses.

My 82 year old mother is a bit unsettled about this as there were many of her childhood. The tip about them showing up on Ebay came from someone who knew her.

We don't expect there is anything we can or will do but I've never given this antique photo market an inkling of a thought before and thought we might as well look into it. Someone was making enough profit off of selling these photos to actually break into a summer cabin and steal a few more boxes to sell.