What Value Requires A Home Safe?

It all depends on what you safe budget is and the physical size of your collection. You can purchase a small floor or suitcase safe for less than $100, the primary disadvantages being that they hold very little and could potentially be carried off. At the other end are large floor safes that can be bolted to the floor or hidden in a false wall. Gun safes tend to be the largest and most economical type but they can cost $500-1000 and take up large amounts of space(in addition to possibly needing to reinforce floor joists to support the weight) and full fire rating safes cost multiple thousands of dollars and are close to the same size as gun safes.

I am in a situation now where, living in an apartment, I do not have space for a gun safe but I will be purchasing one as soon as I buy a house. However, the current sheer size of my collection rules out using small size safes so I have to make do with more novel methods of obfuscation.

If they know you have one.

The same criminal crazy enough to do that is one fried brain cell from holding your family hostage and making you drive to the bank and empty out your SDB; if they know you have one.

The idea here is to not advertise what you have or where you have it.

When my collection pushed over around $1000, I got a safe. Especially to protect coins more difficult to replace. I can re-buy US Mint sets, but replacing my Lincoln collection is much tougher.

I think the key is defense in depth. You want to make your home difficult to break in to. You want to make your safe hard to find. When found, you want to make it hard to open or to carry off. Time is your friend - most criminals want to get in and out quickly without encountering anyone.

In a home invasion situation, you give them what they want - if they get you in a position of disadvantage. But that is still a pretty rare case and you can make it less likely by taking steps to minimize the chance of being put in a position of disadvantage. Lock doors and windows. Keep the garage doors shut. Watch your surroundings (especially when entering/exiting/answering doors). Be willing to take immediate and decisive action if necessary (run away, call police QUICKLY, shoot - whatever is suitable).

In all cases (at home or not), you want to be a difficult target not worth the risk.

I put a rider on my insurance policy that covers up to $3K in coins. It was about $5/month and could be an alternative for you.

If you have a collection that is worth keeping safe from humidity and heat and worth a few times the cost of a safe I would say, a safe is a good idea.
I have a safe that is bolted to the floor. The only worry I have is heat melting plastic to the coins. In a total loss, I don't think it would be in the hottest part of the fire. I just try not to have fire hazards around the house. I also have almost all my firearms and ammo in another large safe with some numismatic stuff in a drawer inside it. My combinations are in a safe deposit box with my will and other important papers at the bank and in my head.
( which is not a safe place sometimes )

Here's my question to you, do YOU value your collection regardless of it's monetary value? If so then it's time to get a safe. Get the biggest one you can afford, it will come in handy for a lot more things besides coins, make sure it has a good fire rating and is at least water resistant if not actually water proof. And don't forget to BOLT IT DOWN. You could put it on a charge card and pay it off monthly, that way you could get a better one then if you had to pay for it all at once. Hope this info helps you out some.
John1

As noted this comes up all the time. And I too always say the same thing. Depending on where you live, how many and who you have over to visit, relatives that know you have a safe, etc. Then too if your in a fairly populated area and a safe is delivered that is large enough to have to have it delivered, people for miles around would probably know this. When you have people over they have a tendency to snoop around. Unless your safe is really consealed, they will see it. Not that those will rob you, but they, as all people do, tell stories that constantly change. First you have a small safe with only a few thousand but eventually you have a large safe bolted to the walls and floors with possibly millions in jewlery, Gold, coins, guns and on and on and on. And when the crooks do come, that safe will be what they heard about and the gun to your head will open it.
If you do get a safe, have it delivered at night, don't tell anyone, don't have any more people over for anything.
And that bolted to the floor/wall stuff is just a joke to most professional crooks. One neighbor HAD safe that was bolted to the floors and walls. When his house was robbed they took that safe. They also took his burglar alarm system.
And remember that a safe is a sort of oven when it comes to a fire. The stuff in there may not get burned but if the fire is sufficient, the safe gets hot and everything inside starts to melt. Look at all the plastic your proof, uncirc sets are in. Look at the coins in slabs. Imagine all that plastic and cardboard melting all over your coins.