The "King of All Kings" I called it in my two year search to obtain and afford one. An NGC PF-63 "1903 US-PHIL Peso Proof" stolen from my mailbox. A month of excessive work on my behalf with the addition of a police investigation was soon to follow...

An NGC PF-63 "1903 US-PHIL Peso Proof" was originally stolen from my mailbox on 9/25/14, just three days after my birthday which I had finally obtained as a gift to myself and as the most difficult piece to-date in my US-PHIL collection. I'm a recent under-grad and having a large budget is far from the case.

A month of excessive work on my behalf with the addition of a police investigation was soon to follow. After failing to locate the coin, the authorities rendered the investigation "futile." Nevertheless, I would not take "no" for an answer, not on this piece. I had worked so hard to obtain this example, searched for so long, jumped in the air with excitement after winning the auction and spent too much money to just "let it go" as they told me.

To make things more difficult, every coin shop I had spoken with in my search was very kind, helpful and stated they would call if it either turned up or if they heard anything. As time passed, I started to lose hope. After exhausting all of my resources and calling every coin/pawn shop I could find a number for, I tried a different search and found the number for a collectibles shop I hadn't yet seen. I dialed the number and... I finally seemed to have found the pesos destination. I was in sheer shock, was this really it? Had I really found it? It was it.

That's the end of the story, you might ask? Far from it, actually. I thought it would be as easy as hopping in the car, taking a drive and picking it up... boy, was I wrong. After it seemed I had truly found it, the collectibles shop owner would not give it up without a fight. After proving the example was mine through endless documentation/receipts and the shop owner's mistake of not filing the proper paperwork when the item was sold, the police eventually seized the coin.

If the coin had not been certified by NGC, I never would have been able to prove it was mine. The detective assigned to the case even stated, "You're lucky you had this coin authenticated. If it hadn't been, there would have been little to no chance for us to prove it was really the coin that was stolen." (As a word of advise, when you're spending good money on a coin, always buy it certified. This is a perfect example of how beneficial it can be, among many other reasons such as authenticity. I thank NGC every day for certifying that coin.) I finally received the piece on 10/31/14, making this specimen that much more invaluable to my collection, while also being the last coin to complete my 1903 Proof Set.

What happened to the perpetrator, I suspect you might be wondering? He was never caught. Apparently, he had used a fake ID when selling the coin and the cameras were not active on the showroom floor. As mentioned in the prior, the shop owner didn't file the proper paperwork with this transaction... and that included not obtaining a fingerprint which is required by law in Colorado. However, the detective on the case said this was a stepping-stone in advancing progress on the case towards a criminal ring that had been involved in breaking into mail-rooms stealing anything with a tracking number.

In the end, the detective thanked me for my tenacity and work, handed me the coin and I walked outta' that police station with the biggest grin I've probably ever had in my entire life. "A job well done," I thought. A tribute thank you is directed to NGC for their certification/encapsulation of coins and inadvertent assistance in helping me get back "the stolen prize: the king of all kings."

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