Graham. you are going to have to stop using your nose to type. It can only lead to some sort of repetitive strain injury. Despite the possibility of Vincents being stolen to order and shipped great distances it seems to me that the kind of rogue who carries out this sort of crime is likely to be both idle and stupid and more likely to break the bike and try to sell the parts. I do not go to autojumble often but it is not uncommon to see a Vincent crankcase, generally a Comet, at such events. I would love to have a sheet of paper in my pocket with a list of all stolen engine and frame numbers so that I could check at once the provenance of the parts. That way every Vincent enthusiast can be a 'detective' and any crankcase without an engine number can be reported to the local police as suspicious. With 2,000 VOC member world wide it should be possible to track down at least some of the stolen bikes. For example, what happened to Brian Phillip's bikes. Sure they could be sat in a private vault somewhere with whole sets of Piccasos, Rembrandts etc while some rich nut gloats. Even then, upon demise of said nut they will appear at some stage and an eagle eyed and well informed Vincent owner could spot them. He will not do that if he does not have the relevant numbers.