According to the Sun-Sentinal in Southern Florida, Michael Perlman was a hit at the Hollywood, Florida stamp club meeting last week. It was Perlman helped the FBI recover the late Charles J. Starnes collection.
Valued at $350,000, the collection was stolen from Starnes home in Midland, Mich in 1983. In May of this year, Perlman found out about an eBay stamp auction being sold out of Tampa. Realizing that the material was part of the missing collection, Perlman alerted the police who called in the FBI.
Perlman told the club that he bid $11,400 on the Starnes items. He won, and after assuring the seller via e-mail that he was legitimate, Perlman arranged a meeting with the seller and an undercover FBI agent.
The seller, a widow who said she inherited the collection from her late husband, wasn't arrested because there was no proof that she knew the stamps were stolen.
With his help, 80 percent of the collection was recovered and will be returned to Starnes' heirs at which point the club members cheered.
To read the entire article (which is very entertaining), click here.
Valued at $350,000, the collection was stolen from Starnes home in Midland, Mich in 1983. In May of this year, Perlman found out about an eBay stamp auction being sold out of Tampa. Realizing that the material was part of the missing collection, Perlman alerted the police who called in the FBI.
Perlman told the club that he bid $11,400 on the Starnes items. He won, and after assuring the seller via e-mail that he was legitimate, Perlman arranged a meeting with the seller and an undercover FBI agent.
The seller, a widow who said she inherited the collection from her late husband, wasn't arrested because there was no proof that she knew the stamps were stolen.
With his help, 80 percent of the collection was recovered and will be returned to Starnes' heirs at which point the club members cheered.
To read the entire article (which is very entertaining), click here.
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