When I drove to northern Arkansas to pick up a Rollergames, I stay overnight at a hotel/motel w/ the pin wrapped in a brown tarp in the back of my pick-up truck. It did cross my mind about whether or not someone would steal a pin from back of a truck. There was no rain forecast and I was too tired to bring it in my room for the night. I didn't have any problems, ...guess I was more fortunate.

Concerning the Stargate theft, I assume one of these two scenarios occured:
* thief noticed the pin in the truck (or something large under tarp) while both were driving earlier that day, and the thief followed to see where the truck w/ pin parked at, then returned that night with help to make his move.
* thief is someone local in the neighborhood or close by surrounding area who noticed it.
There was no daily pattern for the thief to pick up on in that particular case.

I doubt that it shows up on ebay. Possibly CL.
The pin may just end up in thief's garage/basement, or at one of his buddies place.

Thanks for the updates billsfanmd. Big sigh of relief on that one.
Glad that it wasn't torn apart and scrapped out. Would have been a real bummer.
Being proactive in searching and trying to get it back (and having connections) was important.