A Nanaimo business owner is considering closing shop after nearly $500,000 in silver jewellery was stolen.
The theft happened in Calgary last month when Brad Leith, chief financial officer for Nanaimo-based jewellery business Kibela, was in Calgary selling silver rings, earrings and pendants.
Leith was with a client in Chinatown for about an hour March 21 and returned to his van to discover it was broken into and eight cases of jewelry were missing.
Donna Fradley, the company's owner and jewelry designer, said so far, Calgary police have not contacted her with news about the missing inventory.
"Both Brad and I have been very frustrated because we haven't really heard anything from the police, but I'm told that's normal," Fradley said. "They've not told us anything, so I guess they don't know anything."
Fradley was surprised to learn another theft of about $500,000 in sterling silver jewelry, also involving a vehicle break-in, occurred in Vancouver on West Broadway Feb. 13. In that case, a jewelry trade show exhibitor from eastern Canada was the victim.
Const. Lindsey Houghton, Vancouver Police Department spokesman, said investigators in Vancouver and Calgary do not think the two thefts are linked. The Vancouver investigation remains open.
Staff Sgt. Bruce Walker, of the Calgary Police Service, said police liaisons are working with that city's Chinese community and investigators are continuing to go through security video from businesses in the area, but there have been no breaks in that case either.
Walker said other jewelry thefts in Calgary in the last year were possibly driven by high precious-metal prices. Some thefts are simply cases of someone breaking into a car because they saw suitcases or a briefcase that could contain valuables. Other cases involve thieves specifically targeting sellers making their rounds.
"In my opinion, in some cases it has been targeted," Walker said. "The person is followed from the appraiser or jewelry store – and probably completely unassociated to the jewellery store. They'll just sit and wait. They'll make the hit and take the assets away from the victim. We've had those in the past."
So far police in Calgary have been unable to determine whether Leith was targeted.
Walker said jewelry sellers, like other merchants and wholesalers, do what they can to mitigate risks, but those risks will always be there.
Fradley has never been the victim of large theft before, but has always been aware it was possible. She said suppliers who travel on the road are unable to get insurance coverage.
"I thought we were really careful," Fradley said. "We don't park in mall parking lots. We don't leave jewelry in the car overnight. It was on a busy street in broad daylight."
Fradley, who has been in the jewelry business 23 years, does not know how she will weather the financial loss and might get out of the business altogether. She said after hearing nothing from police in the first two days following the theft, she gave up hope of the jewelry being recovered.
"It may be it for me," she said. "How do you recover from that? I'm very discouraged with the whole thing."