Has this ever happened to you? What did you do?

[Daewen98]

Hey everyone,

Just last night, I came home from work and started looking for my pewter miniatures that I have been slowly gathering over the past year or so, gone! All my pewter figurines were given away by my Mom who thought they were items to be donated, when infact I had them all set to take to a friends house to be painted once I got the call from my friends to come over.

 

A total of at least 10-11 miniatures, almost all that I found on eBay auctions and won. Couple of them were early 90s and the rest of them were more recent. I was extremely proud of my finds since some of them were hard to find, rare or a real fight to win in auction. All the items were unpainted and in mint condition thanks to the sellers taking great care. All of the miniatures were waiting to painted or in the process of being prepared to be painted or actually in the beginning of it.

What was given away

 

• Three full sets of paintbrushes (Cheaper ones but still really nice, two of which still unused)
• Bombshell Mini 32mm Fa'o - Cat Huntress (Just started painting her)
• Dark Sword DSM-7622 Stephanie Law Masterworks Muse Polyhymnia Mythic Female (Was looking for a professional to work on her, she was too pretty for me, a beginner, to attempt)
• Grenadier 3x Female Warriors Sabertooth Great Cat Riders (Could not paint yet, they were early 80s (I think) and lead.)
• Lance & Laser 25mm 28mm Dungeons & Dragons Anthropomorphic Cat Ranger Archer (Unpainted)
• Reaper Gwyneth Roanmane 1998 (Primed but unpainted)
• Reaper Raindancer Pegasus (Mint condition, wings needed to be attached and primed)
• A custom Tibbit character from HeroForge (just realized I had it with the others)
• A gryphon (plastic, trimmed of flash and prepped for painting)

 

Another thing that I realized that was in the bag, a custom necklace I made for. A lovely hematite necklace with amethyst and a wolfhead pendant.

 

Has this ever happened to you? What did you do? Can anyone help me?

 

 

UPDATE!

Good news so far:

The wolf head necklace has been found by the donation company.

 

Bad news:

No miniatures were found so far and they made it very clear that there is a very strong chance that the miniatures have been disposed of as being seen as no resale value by them.

 

They'll look some more tomorrow for them so please send me good thoughts, prayers or any means of swaying the forces that be so that all the items are found tomorrow! Thank you all for chatting and giving me advice on how to handle this, where to look for new miniatures and stories of your own or someone you know who went through something like this.

 

UPDATE part 2!

Good News!

11 of the 13 miniatures have been found!

Miniatures have been found! Miniatures have been found but sadly my Reaper Gwyneth Roanmane 1998 has been damaged, the arm holding the staff has been broken off and lost.

 

The parts to two other miniatures that were not attached were not found so must be replaced but it can be done and I can use the old ones to practice with or have as spar parts for future projects.

 

My paint brushes and paint have been found as well so I'm happy that almost everything has been found so far.

 

 

Edited January 30, 2018 by Daewen98
Update Part 2!

[redambrosia]

I'm confused... what happened? 

[Daewen98]

Sorry about that being confusing, I'm still a bit upset about it happening.

[Flit]

You should ask your mom where they were donated. Then you can go to there and see if you can buy them back. Do this as quickly as possible so they don't all get sold.

[Daewen98]

We're in the process now of doing just that but sadly, I was told that there is little to no chance of getting them back since the donation place already sorted and sent them off to thrift stores. My hope is sadly fading.

[Gadgetman!]

Nope, not had that happen to me since i have my own apartment...  

 

i do know that a couple of my more 'scruffy-looking' computers disappeared during my move to the apartment, and I suspect that my mother dumped them at the nearest recycling pickup point. 

No thought of any data that might be on them or anything.   

Just TRY to find an Amstrad NC150 online... 

(I collect vintage computers, and that one was produced in very low numbers and no, I haven't een another one on eBay since then)

 

Most people goes around in their own bubble, thinking that 'it's not something I do, it can't be worth anything.' or 'that looks like toys. He's too old to play with toys, I'll just donate it somewhere'... 

 

Sucks about the vintage minis. 

 

Ypu could try finding out where the stuff was donated to, and hear if they still have your stuff. Don't demand it back, offer a decent amount of money for them.

If they cannot be found,  put pictures of them on your door, with their cost. But don't say a word. 

It's no use to yell about it.

[redambrosia]

I would flip my lid if that happened to me... these things aren't cheap!

Edited January 24, 2018 by redambrosia

[paintybeard]

Justifiable homicide.

[WhiteWulfe]

That's precisely why I don't live with my parents anymore, and left as soon as I could.  They'd just randomly take stuff I'd spent ages acquiring and just go "oh, it's old junk, we'll get rid of that for him"....  Yeah, what was old junk to you mom was worth $500 CAD at the time, and had taken six years of work to get.  Then they couldn't understand why I was so upset and irritated afterwards.  I lost thousands of dollars in vintage games as well as various things they deemed "unimportant to someone of my age". 

 

I'd be flipping out hardcore if someone dared to do that kind of thing to my stuff, and I've done such with previous roommates who tried to pull the stunt.  Funny how fast you get your things back when you threaten to push for theft charges...  "unused spare parts" or not, they're still my property. (I collect various computer parts, although I suspect for different reasons than others do - mine usually wind up covered in liquid electrical tape and then made to beg for mercy via subzero overclocking...) 

[LittleBluberry]

Most of the stuff you listed (Reaper, Darksword, Bombshell Babes) should be fairly easy to replace, the Grenadier stuff is definitely hard to find.  The griffin could be either Reaper's or WizKids, you'd have to poke around to see.  Having said that, it's still not cheap to replace them.  

 

Might be time to try and work out the kinks in your relationship with your mother--it sounds like you're at that age where you're more of an adult but she's used to being in charge of everything.  It's not always easy to go through that transition smoothly, I've done it as both the child and the parent and it takes effort from everyone.  Good luck!

[Keianna]

Not to me, but my grandmother burned a bunch of my dad's old baseball cards after he moved out. Among other things, there was a Babe Ruth rookie card in there.

[Beagle]

It's never happened to me although my wife periodically throws out clothes that she thinks I've owned for too long.

 

I did however give away or sell my horde of over 6000 miniatures last year just because I no longer enjoyed them. With some kickstarter deliveries and the occasional back of the cupboard find, I'm back up to a few hundred.

 

EBay's a great place to pick up small piles of minis at really good prices

[Mad Jack]

 

I'm sure it was just a mistake on your mother's part. These things happen, and there's no sense in remaining upset about them.

 

 As mentioned, see if you can find out which thrift stores they were sent to - you may be able to buy them back, and probably cheaper than what you paid for them the first time.

 

The good news is, most of those are still possible to acquire as long as you have the money to throw at it. The two Reaper miniatures are still available for sale in the online store. The Bombshell and Dark Sword may be as well, and if not you might check out online stores like Miniature Market and Noble Knight games...

 

" Lance & Laser 25mm 28mm Dungeons & Dragons Anthropomorphic Cat Ranger Archer " - this sounds like the description of the figure from the eBay auction, am I right? Was it an individual or a store selling it?

Looking at the Lance & Laser pages on the Lost Minis Wiki and at Armorcast (where most of the L&L figures ended up), I'm not seeing a catfolk archer anywhere in any of their lines, so this might not be an L&L - it sounds like a case of whoever sold it just throwing up a bunch of vaguely relevant keywords to get more search hits.

Without the actual product number, it's a bit harder to track down. There aren't a lot of catfolk archers out there, especially in the older lines. Could you describe the pose and what the figure was wearing? Did it have any markings on the base, and what shape is the base?

(it wasn't this one, was it?)

 

 The Grenadier cat riders, were they armed with spears or were they archers? They would probably be either 51021 Amazon Cat Riders or 51022 Amazon Cat Archers... If so, they're still available from an Italian company called Mirliton.

 

 

 

Edited January 24, 2018 by Mad Jack

[Daewen98]

We're trying to track the store right now, I would be happy to pay for them back if I can get them back since it was for a good cause.

 

The Lance and Laser one was an auction and I can't access the information anymore since it was last year and eBay doesn't keep the information after a certain time. It was an individual who sold it to me. It really was my favorite since I love cats and I really loved how he looked.

 

The Grenadier cat riders were archers and one looked as if she had a spear.

[Cyradis]

1 hour ago, redambrosia said:

I would flip my lid if that happened to me... these things aren't cheap!

 

Lid flipping. Broccoli lost. Rage and panic and hysteria.