49 replies to this topic

[jgogg]

Just about done.

[Barkworth]

I'm happy that Kirk decided to keep "Irish" anonymous. Entertaining read. The heist itself felt like a movie script to me, especially with all the added scenery. Imagine the kind of balls it takes to pull off this kind of thing. The Dutch Fly Fair was held again last week, btw. Not a lot of salmon fly tying, and even less classics. 

 

Rv-

[aaronostoj]

read it.  Nothing we didn't already know. Fairly well written, but found it funny how obsessed Kirk became about the feathers and skins.  What IS IT about those feathers anyways?

[Bud Guidry]

Lol, seems Kirk got his own obsession with feathers, so much so the fellows flying all over the world chasing feathers, dragging his wife along.
Falling asleep she was so tired? Who's obcessed again, oh oh, ok it was rist. it's what I got out of it, and I need to explain something to everyone, the author acknowledges his help, he mentions talking to me. We had a very short conversation, most all of it saying, can you hear me now? Yes just like the commercial, we had no interview on the subject of rist, only a request from him if we could speak at a later time
We never spoke again.
So I guess he was grateful I answered the phone once and thanked me in the book
Can you hear me now?
I agree with Aaron, it took Kirk years to find out what we had known very quick. And luc? He disappeared for a reason.
Karma is a bitch, those who were involved in this? Sleep with an eye open, karma is going to find you at some point in your lives.
The story is in a sense throwing a false impression how criminal fly tyers are, but I can assure the author, this criminal element is a very small percent of the fly tying community. And as much as he seemed to relish pointing a finger at this forum, if he'd had spent time getting to know the members here, he would have changed his so stated criminal activity that goes on here. Sadly it was the popularity of the forum that attracted the criminal element but the author seems to have not figured that out or did but wouldn't mention it to lessen the captivating storyline of the book. Seem we are all criminals here. The forum being our hideout. Gotta run guys guido,s knocking on the Door with the secret knock.
Book well written but so much wrong with it

[S FONTINALIS]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-feather-thief-review-a-fuss-over-feathers-1524257312

[jgogg]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-feather-thief-review-a-fuss-over-feathers-1524257312

Can you copy/paste the article?   (It is behind a pay wall.)

[S FONTINALIS]

i dont have a subscription and its not behind a paywall - cant copy paste - copyright infringement.

[Barkworth]

There is an element of sensation to it. Kirk certainly has a way with words, and his writing is captivating.

 

Rv-

[wsbailey]

Some added information:

https://www.spectator.co.uk/2018/04/the-most-bizarre-museum-heist-ever/

https://www.outsideonline.com/2299821/ornithologist-reads-feather-thief

[manyfeathers]

Am more than familiar with the obsession for certain hard to obtain feathers and the lengths some people will go to acquire them. I'd read some articles, and then reviews for this book previously, but not sure I actually want to read this book. I seem to recall that some birds might have been previously stolen from the Leiden museum. I will have to ask my biologist friend that occasionally works with the specimens there. He might have been referring to this particular collection and I misunderstood.

Parts of birds that were not recovered probably showed up on eBay and not have been flagged because they are not listed on Cites

https://www.audubon.org/news/on-hunt-hundreds-rare-birds-stolen-museum

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6022003/Priceless-tropical-birds-stolen-from-Natural-History-Museum.html

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/6010428/Hundreds-of-priceless-tropical-bird-skins-stolen-from-Natural-History-Museum.html

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8130953/American-charged-over-stuffed-bird-theft.html

[Barkworth]

Am more than familiar with the obsession for certain hard to obtain feathers and the lengths some people will go to acquire them. I'd read some articles, and then reviews for this book previously, but not sure I actually want to read this book. I seem to recall that some birds might have been previously stolen from the Leiden museum. I will have to ask my biologist friend that occasionally works with the specimens there. He might have been referring to this particular collection and I misunderstood.

Parts of birds that were not recovered probably showed up on eBay and not have been flagged because they are not listed on Cites

https://www.audubon.org/news/on-hunt-hundreds-rare-birds-stolen-museum

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6022003/Priceless-tropical-birds-stolen-from-Natural-History-Museum.html

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/6010428/Hundreds-of-priceless-tropical-bird-skins-stolen-from-Natural-History-Museum.html

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8130953/American-charged-over-stuffed-bird-theft.html

 

 

You are Dutch then?

Rv-

[manyfeathers]

You are Dutch then?

Rv-

Waaaay too funny!  I do have several friends in the Netherlands, though.

My grandson is  Dutch from Geldrop. He moved to the US with his parents when he was 2 before he could speak English

[S FONTINALIS]

Waaaay too funny!  I do have several friends in the Netherlands, though.

My grandson is  Dutch from Geldrop. He moved to the US with his parents when he was 2 before he could speak English

 

international man of mystery

[manyfeathers]

international man of mystery

 

not "man" lol

[Barkworth]

Ah.... "manyfeathers".... should have rung a bell. Welcome here, you :-)

Rv-

[manyfeathers]

Ah.... "manyfeathers".... should have rung a bell. Welcome here, you :-)

Rv-

Thank you, son! :-)

[Alex Hayes]

Heard about the book on NPR. Received it in the mail yesterday and do look forward to reading it. I remember when this happened and being shocked. Though not active lately I've been part of this forum for about half of my life, and I know that a vast majority of us are ethical. But I do also think that these events are a gentle reminder of what greed can do to people. The feathers are a treat to own, and I'm not opposed to owning them if acquired legally, but that collection was of more value in the museum in my opinion. I'm curious to see how the book unfolds.

[roycestearns]

Bought it read it, asked Kirk questions on another forum and got no response.  Kirk did a fantastic job in  attempting to track down the missing skins and documenting the crime.

 

However, I stand by my original post ... lots of hyperbole and stereotyping.  Lots of the blame has been put on this forum!  The humorous posts that were taken out of context was one of the biggest surprises.

 

Kirk never recognized the good that John McClain did with the Kori program.  By taking Kori out of the "feather underground" John set the perfect example on how to solve the greed and supply problem.     

[jgogg]

Bought it read it, asked Kirk questions on another forum and got no response.  Kirk did a fantastic job in  attempting to track down the missing skins and documenting the crime.

 

However, I stand by my original post ... lots of hyperbole and stereotyping.  Lots of the blame has been put on this forum!  The humorous posts that were taken out of context was one of the biggest surprises.

 

Kirk never recognized the good that John McClain did with the Kori program.  By taking Kori out of the "feather underground" John set the perfect example on how to solve the greed and supply problem.     

I must agree that humour does not seem to be Kirk's strong suite.   In chatting with him (on Facebook), he mentioned that someone just sold a Red Ruffed Fruit crow for $5000 that had cotton eyes and was obviously a museum specimen. He reported that it sold, then the sale was immediately taken down.  I was aware of the bird Erik Nielsen had recently sold on About Feathers for that price.  But, it was still posted and had a glass eye that could be seen in the photograph.  So, not the bird he was referring to, right?  I wrote that he was either having a difficult time with the facts or he was referring to a different sale. And I referenced the Nielsen sale so that he could see it.  Instead of giving me any details of the sale of which he was aware, he chose to act offended.  Said I had accused him of lying when I had made a joking, perfectly true "either, or" statement.

 

By the way, did anyone besides Kirk see this other sale??  

[Barkworth]

Didn't see any other sale. Would have heard about it, definitely. The Nielsen bird had glass eyes.

 

Rv-