Safe Deposit Box Or Home Safe?

I should actually buy a safe and put some important documents in there. I'm not sure if my coin collection would be valuable enough (just a few thousand dollars or so) to buy an xxl safe for that: the safe would cost more than the coin collection. It would be great if the safe was fireproof, though, as I live in a typical Scandinavian wooden house.

Banks might still have safe deposit boxes here, but what's the point of putting all your coins far away from you if you like to just look at them often? Also, a safe at the bank isn't exactly free over here.

I highly recommend a bank safety deposit box for your coins and a gun and a gun safe for the home.

I have been robbed before, it sucks.

I was living in two different places at the time and fortunately didn't have all my coins in one location.

The night before I got robbed, I actually had about $20,000 in gold and silver out.

I was organizing and sorting and taking some pictures.

Stayed up too late with my coins.

Woke up and had a mess of coins out still, but had to go to work.

Don't know why, but I decided I had to pick up my coins before going in to work.

So I put them all back in their boxes or what not and then put them on my computer desk chair.

I then threw a blanket over them to hide them crudely in plain sight, not my normal spot, but I wasn't going to be able to do that and make it to work on time comfortably so I went for hidden in plain sight.

Went to work.

Came home and my door wasn't closed right. It was shut and locked, but it wasn't shut fully. Must have been in a hurry I figured.

Go inside, notice one of my plants in the window on the stairs fell down and was broken on the steps.

Still hadn't figured out yet what happened. The robbers likely hopped on the attached garage and went in through the open window at the top of the steps, knocked my plant over on the way in and then made it out through the hastily closed door.

It didn't sink in what had happened until I made it to the living room where the coins were located.

My big TV was gone. Kind of hard to miss even after a long day of work on little sleep.

Crap, I had been robbed.

Crap, MY COINS!

Ran to the computer desk.

Threw the blanket still on the chair (promising) to the side.

Bingo, coins were there.

Robbers got my TV and my XBOX and nothing else.

Did not notice my coins hidden in plain sight.

They only took the TV and XBOX, didn't even take my liquor cabinet.

Fairly certain it was neighborhood kids or some young adults renting who could see the upstairs TV from the window and could figure out my work schedule.

Relieved that I only lost a TV and XBOX and still had all my coins, I was still panicked.

At that point even though I am likely one of the largest coin collectors in the world (6'4" roughly 265 but fairly thin at that weight) I just didn't feel safe.

First move I loaded all my coins to the car. I couldn't move them all in one trip. It was weird putting some in the Jeep and then having to run back in and get more. Felt like I was loading up a stage coach or something.

Took them to a more secure location with someone on site 24 hours a day.

The next day I took them to the bank and started using a safety deposit box.

Most everything is in the bank now. I have images of what I would have been looking at and I have a small house collection on hand as well as anything I have bought and not put into the SDB.

When I tell this story in person I close it by displaying my God given and Constitutionally guaranteed right to bear arms and a joke about how American gun control is hitting your targets.

At this point I done reckon I control my weapon mighty fine.

There is no right or wrong answer. Consider all the pros and cons.

Home safe:
*24-hour access to your goods
*No monthly rental fee - just a one-time expense
*Can be removed/broken into
*How do you get a large safe into your home without your neighbors seeing?

Safe deposit box:
*No 24-hour access
*Monthly fees
*Not insured
*Contents can be lost due to clerical errors, flooding, etc (if you don't believe me, look it up on Google)
*You can have one without your neighbors knowing
*Much more secure than a home safe

Do your own due diligence/research and decide what's best for your situation.

Put it in a refrigerator box.

Unfortunately, you can no longer get a personal tax deduction for safety deposit boxes in Canada.

This has been an interesting thread for me. I was going to ask a similar question but searched for a topic on it first. I don't have that many coins at all. Just two worth a total of about $500 (I just started with these two coins). My house is too small to hide a safe anywhere. So I would think I have to use a safe deposit box eventually. Right now I have them in a drawer in my house, but I've been wondering what to do as I amass more. Is there a point (dollar-wise) where you seriously look at locking up the coins? For now, I just keep them in a coin album in drawer in an old end table. There are much more valuable (and easier to find) things in my house that thieves would most like go for for me to worry too much about the coins now. What about insurance. I saw someone mention that. When do you start looking into insurance for coins (vs maybe just adding a rider to a homeowner's policy)?

Personally I like a home safe. I currently keep all my coins in a secluded safe that is fireproof, waterproof and is so heavy one person cannot move it. I also have other ways of deterring would be robbers. Alarm system, a good guard dog, a few guns as my dad has a full conceal and carry license in NY ( and I know where the extra 9mm is in case of emergency) If somehow someone manages to best the 3 countermeasures, the small safe I have is in a tight space and is well over 400 pounds. Good luck to any robber.

It might be more advantageous to not put all of your eggs in one basket, so to speak. If you scatter coins/valuables in a haphazard and hidden manner throughout your domicile, you lower the risk of losing it all at once (barring a house fire) and don't need to pay the SDB rental either.