monkeymonk wrote:
Is there a sort of MO for these guys? I assume the thief is not going to play the instrument so the goal is to sell it. So where would they go? Pawnshops? To mainland europe? I wonder if the thief would have the patience to wait a few months before trying to sell them.
I think it depends on who was the guy(s) who stole it. If they are not specially after good irish flutes - which is unlikely, they would just try to sell it for minimal sum to have a dope, booz and whatever. Or really to go to a pawn shop.
One of my former bandmates once (10 ys ago) was busking in a street (on a Seery flute) when a couple of obvious drunkards appeared with a case and offered him to buy a flute they had. It turned to be a good student Yamaha Boehm flute for about $1000 (this became clear later). He bought it for as much as about $20 (this is what these drunks wanted). Though it was a really good flute but my friend had no reasons to keep it being a traditional musician, so he printed ads to find the original owner and stuck them in local conservatory and nearby music colleges. Soon a woman called and said it was her 10 ys old child's instrument and that it must be immidiately returned back. My friend wanted his $20 back but on hearing that that woman cried that he'd rather have some troubles -police and so on, that she really knew that it was him who had stolen the flute. So he returned the flute but suffered morally. This happened in the west of Ukraine.
Another case was in Moscow a couple of years ago. A good irish button accordion and a bunch (4 or 5) of Goldie low whistles were stolen from russia's leading scottish/irish musician. I believe it was a chance theft as I can't imagine who else here needs these instruments but a handful of addicts that all know each other. There are very few ways to sell them for good money here as well (otherwise someone would notice), so i think the instruments were sold for nothing in a pawn shop.