My tuba got stolen once. $6000 worth of tuba, case, tuner, metronome, cleaning gear, and mouthpieces pulled from my car in less than twenty seconds.

I wouldn't have gotten it back if the pawn shop hadn't posted it on eBay. The listing was quickly discovered by other tubists online, and they got the listing closed & passed word to me within six hours.

The cops didn't care about finding it -- they had enough on their hands with murders, drugs, etc. -- but they were happy enough to get it back into good hands.