HELENA — Earlier this week we brought you a story about some recent Helena burglaries. On Friday, March 22, we talked with Wayne Miller about what happened to his coin store.
“I got a call at about 1:30 in the morning that our shop had been burglarized and the police got here within five or six minutes after the alarm, but they were still too fast,” said Miller.
Three men broke through the glass door in the early morning of March 3.
“The only thing that they stole of any consequence is a bunch of silver dollars,” Miller said. He said the value of the stolen coins is about $56,000.
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Most of the coins were worth anywhere from $25 to $1,000, but one was worth $6,000 alone.
“They didn’t take anything dated after 1904. It was odd how selective, like they knew which ones they wanted to get,” said Miller.
Some of the stolen coins would be easily identifiable if found.
“There were some specific silver dollars that we better date dollars but they were messed up in some way or another. About 80 or 90 coins that any dealer that saw this stuff walk in, would recognize that this is from this deal,” Miller said.
One of the most surprising things about this for Miller was the things the men didn’t touch.
“They didn’t touch the cash drawer. I had a quantity of gold coins that were immediately open to look at, they didn’t touch those. It was just the silver dollars before 1921,” said Miller.
Miller has been in the coin business for decades and has never experienced a burglary.
After this incident, they have decided to upgrade their security measures.
“We’ve ordered a new front door and windows with some aluminum mesh in it, which will make it very difficult to break open,” said Miller.
The Helena Police Department has described the three suspects as all medium build males wearing hoodies, beanies and facemasks. They took off in a gray vehicle.
The police are asking anyone with information to contact their dispatch center or Crimestoppers, and Wayne Miller Coins is offering their own reward.
“We are offering a $1,000 reward for anybody that can come up with some useful information in regard to this burglary,” Miller said.
