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 Desubot wrote:
Well the bright side of all of this is that now you know it wasn't likely sold off for scrap metal

At least not immediately. I wouldn't jump to any conclusions here, the original collection was clearly broken up at some point and sold to different people and it's fairly likely that at least some of it ended up thrown in the trash/sold for scrap/etc by someone who didn't know how much the stuff was worth.

BeAfraid wrote:
But from the sounds of things, the previous owner had re-based all of my miniatures on GW plastic bases (which makes me insane, considering how well I had based them).

Just try to keep the right perspective on this: the models are priceless to you, but to someone else they're just models and all of the work you did on them has no value. If I had bought any of them it would have been to paint myself, and I would have thrown them directly into the paint stripper without any thought of how much work the original owner put into them. Same thing with the basing, if the buyer needed them to be on standard GW bases for a GW game or to match the rest of your army then your original basing has to go, no matter how nice it was.

 Desubot wrote:
Well the bright side of all of this is that now you know it wasn't likely sold off for scrap metal

I can't yet rule that out, unfortunately.

I had left two small plastic storage cases of miniatures at a friend's house in 1998.

I don't recall all that was in those cases, but there is a chance this one might have been among them.

So... There is just an increased chance that they did not turn up as scrap.

MB

I am very happy that some of your lost items are turning up.

Having had my own life meltdown in 2008 (nothing as severe as your experience but still a huge pain ), I am pulling for the day that you look back and say "Man, I can't believe how far ive come."

On a search note to try and help, have you ever consulted the "Internet Way back Machine " project which I THINK it's affiliated with the Library of Alexandria?

I'm not really sure how well it will work with Ebay, if being a fast moving site with many listings and all, BUT it might be able to help research old classified style ad listings for your lost miniatures in the San Francisco area.

It's been a while since I've used the way back machine, but it might just help with those 2008 listing as well.

Good hunting.

Robb aka Forgemaster Argos

any updates? I have been watching this thread. Hopefully you find more!

Nothing. Still going through eBay every other day

MB

BeAfraid wrote:
Nothing. Still going through eBay every other day

MB

Such a shame about all this, at least you have found a couple of them so far!