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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ourph" data-source="post: 3362399" data-attributes="member: 20239"><p>This is actually not too much different from the way Thief-takers operated with official license in the Edwardian/Victorian era.  Thieves would steal items and sell them to officially sanctioned fences (Thief-takers) who acted as brokers to allow people to get back their stolen goods.  Technically, the thief-takers were supposed to track down and confiscate stolen goods, returning them to their owners for a reward.  But it was much easier to just pay the thieves a portion of the reward to bring the item straight to the Thief-taker.  The attitude of the rich and powerful was 1) thievery is going to happen no matter what, 2) I have money and I have my great uncle Herman's gold pocket watch, 3) I'd rather lose the money than the pocket watch, 4) So, let's set up a system where, if I have something stolen that I really don't want to lose, I can pay a "ransom" for it that's a fraction of the actual value rather than never seeing it again.  IMO, a very practical and elegant system for the time, even if it did arguably encourage thievery by making it easier for thieves to dispose of stolen goods.</p></blockquote><p></p>