Sun reporter Jacques Kelly recently talked to the owners of Imperial Half Bushel, who were burglarized and lost more than $100,000 in merchandise. We write a lot in this space about violent crime and gun violence, but this is a reminder of the toll of property crime:

The door at 831 N. Howard St. swings open to one of Baltimore's more charming salesrooms. But Friday, when I stopped by the place known as the Imperial Half Bushel, it was a dispiriting and depressing sight.

The 19th-century walnut and oak showcases were empty. Gone were the silver forks and spoons made by Baltimore silversmiths. The water pitchers, the cups, the napkin holders had disappeared. Sometime between Sept. 17 and Sept. 20, thieves looted $100,000 worth of silver from this little shop located on a stretch known as Antiques Row.

Fred and Nancy Duggan and their son, Patrick, opened their silver business in 1976. They operate an old-fashioned Baltimore shop, complete with marble steps and a brass rail and a set of louvered green shutters at the front door. They offered an inventory of estate silver — used and antique pieces — neatly displayed and well-polished in showcases you might encounter in an old museum or a great-aunt's dining room.

Patrick Duggan said that on Saturday, Sept. 17, he locked the front door and turned on the burglar alarm when he closed the shop for the weekend. When he went to reopen it the following Tuesday morning, the alarm did not sound momentarily, as it normally would. He walked in and saw that his showcases were virtually empty. The thieves had entered through a back window and cut the alarm telephone lines. When rifling through the showcases, they left the knives behind, apparently knowing the blades are not silver.