AusBonsai

i dont know why the admin did not approve of my post the other day.

i just had a 93 year old port jackson fig tree stolen from me.
location was west footscray , melbourne.

tree has a unique budha statute in the trunk that cannot be removed.

i am so angry this happened.

here is her sister tree the same age , the thief didnt even take it...
i still got it , now inside my house in fear of it also getting stolen.
to avoid confusion , the picture of the tree seen twice is the one that got stolen , the other one is the sister tree...
and i know it misses its sister and i am heart broken this has happened.
both trees were not ever separated for 93 years.

baz

It is very sad that your tree was stolen. I know how it feels. I hope you get it back. Ash

Hope you find whoever has it. Bonus that it has the Buddha, hopefully someone who sees this post will find it.

ouch!!!

Yeah, shame. You just wonder what do these low lifes do with them? The can't really sell them online you'd think, because you would instantly recognize them. Anyway, it is good to know that. There is a chance that every time someone who sees a large buttress like that, that they may look for a little budha, or at least a bad scar in that area where they tried to extract it. Maybe they post them overseas, where buyers are less likely to read forums here, or a non english speaking country.

Again, first rule of Bonsai Club:
Never invite enthusiasts into your home. You just can't trust people, and once someone bad knows where you live... its game on.

Second rule of Bonsai Club:
If you post bonsai to someone you have sold to, don't put your address on the return side.

Hopefully this helps. I was wanting to join a bonsai club eventually, but having a second child coming in 2 months, and 2 jobs, I have very little time. I know my personality, and I would definitely want to bring back people if I got to know them and show them our bonsai, but for this reason it is sad that I would probably not. It is a shame that for the select few bad seeds, it makes the entire hobby potentially dangerous. Though, it may even be tradesmen, or a neighbour etc. Luckily our land is simply not accessible, and shields us from unwanted eyes. When I first got into bonsai in the 90's the internet had not fully taken off, and so if you wanted to share your love, you would have to bring people back to your house, so thankfully with the digital age we can now safely share them with fellow online members.

So sorry to hear about your loss I hope you manage to get your tree back.

Bonsai buddy thanks for those tips I am about to join a club in my area so that's very handy info.

and the stupid thing is, these stolen bonsai are often worth so much more to the rightful owner than anyone who it is sold to. I am a fig man, but personally I don't really want a 93 year old fig that is not shaped how I'd like it, with a Buddha wedged in the trunk. If i'm to work stock, i want it young and vigorous. For some reason there is a terrible myth that age=value. I'm sure the thief is hoping for thousands for this. But he'll probably struggle to sell it at all. Unless Bunnings buys it or something. Yet if someone stole one of my figs that is in development or had sentiment, but was only of great value to me, I'd be furious.

All the best with getting this one back.