ODL engraved on things.

[teflon6string]

Born in 1915 and then enduring the "great" depression, my father was as thrifty as they come, and extremely careful with his hard-earned posessions. In fact, he engraved his last name and Oregon Driver's Licence # onto just about everything worth more than a couple bucks.

When he passed away, I inherited a lot of sound gear, tools, instruments, appliances, artwork, etc. Trust me, nothing spiffs up a 1950's German 35mm SLR quite like my dad's ODL scratched onto the nameplate right above "Contaflex."

Today I went to donate a typewriter and some other stuff to charity and realized his last name and ODL were engraved on half the items. So I held off and came back here to see who can tell me what might be the downside to letting that info out there.

Pop is long gone, but Mom still has his unique last name. Also, I now live at the address where he had that license (for decades).

Here's my question - if I fail to obscure that info and it ends up in the hands of a meth head oxygen bandit, are there potential negative consequences to consider? Another negative I acknowledge is that I'd feel funny receiving something in an otherwise fair sale/trade with somebody else's ID obliterated, even if the serial number was still okay.

What should I consider as I go to sell/trade/donate some of these things?

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[SteelyDan]

I guess the potentially negative consequence would be you having to blow away a meth head who managed to reverse look-up the ODL and track you down. Did I say negative consquence?

I'd say scratch off the number and explain it to a potential buyer. If you donate it, I doubt anybody will ask any questions!

Don't lose any sleep, you are doing a good thing by donating items to a worthy cause and that outweighs any funny feelings the recipient may have.

 

[Hardwood floor guy]

if he has passed away you can bet there is a guy from south of the border that is already using his social security number.

 

[PreviaDrifter]

Check with dmv to find out how long they keep records of numbers no longer used. Not long ago i tried to find some info on a car formerly registered in montana and they had no record of it and said they clear out inactive records regularily. Just a thought.

 

[jbett98]

I had a similar problem. I used the same engraver and made all the three's into eight's am sevens into nines. As far as the name goes, try adding Mc to the front, or some other extension to the end. That will keep them busy if they pursue the ID.

 

[PreviaDrifter]

^ that's a good idea.

 

[teflon6string]

Funny, in boot camp in the 70's, we stenciled our name, company # and SSN on every uniform item and piece of gear we were issued. Makes me cringe as I wonder where a lot of those things are today. Just last summer, I went camping and realized my SSN is still on the duffel I use to carry my mattress (and typically leave in the tent when I go to fish). It's a big black spray painted stripe now!