Who's Got A Safe?

What would the purpose of a safe be? A convenient place to store your coins/bullion? Or for security purposes of actually keeping someone from stealing your items?

We used to have a show here in the US called "It Takes A Thief". To boil it down: a professional thief would break into a home that the family thought was secure, and many times the episode highlighted just how ineffective the precautions the family had taken were (feeding dog treats to a 'guard dog' actually made the dog friendly to the thief, leaving a second floor window open to keep the house cool and leaving a ladder on the side of the building defeated the purpose of having multiple dead bolts on the downstairs doors, etc.)

One of the things that always seemed to interest me on the show were safes. I don't recall specifically if the show ever had fire safes on them like what you listed above, but I do recall that they did have several smaller safes such as these: http://www.libertysafenorcal.com/sa...s-ps-20.html on the show quite a bit.

Many times they were just sitting in a closet, the family would explain that they kept their valuables in the safe and thought they were secure, and each time the thief would simply haul the safe out of the home! The thief, as part of the show, would always bring everything back and explain why he took things, and he always said that while a safe will protect the items inside from being removed DURING the robbery, once he hauled the safe away back to his place because it wasn't secured properly, he had all the time he needed to break into it. Keep in mind, yes they are heavy, but they weight less that 200 lbs. (fire safes even less!) and a hand truck solves that problem.

In one episode I even saw a safe: http://www.libertysafenorcal.com/sa...s-ps-20.html that was bolted to the wall, and it took this guy (with a friend) two minutes to rip it off the wall, and haul it out to their van backed against the garage.

While I understand some of that could have been explained by entertainment value (how many common crooks are going to take the time to rip a 500 lbs safe from a wall and have the vehicle to drive it off?), we are talking about a much smaller fire safe.

Something I have always thought about in the back of my mind because I too have thought of getting a safe, but because I rent an apartment and have no way to properly bolt a safe down to my floor/wall, I haven't gotten one yet.

So back to your original post: If you are planning to buy a safe for security, are you planning on bolting the safe down properly? And if the safe is more for just storage/looks, I personally would look at other, less expensive options.


On a side note: The same company I listed above always does a booth at the California State Fair, and this year I remarked to my girlfriend that it would be nice to have a safe like theirs in my home, especially now for coins. Well a week later she started dropping hints that there were several locksmith stores in town that were advertising sales on safes, and I had to give the explanation to her about not wanting a safe right now for the reasons listed above about not being able to secure it. But she still brings it up when we drive past a few locksmith places. I just really hope I don't wind up with a safe as a xmas present and no way to bolt it down. LOL.

when you open a safe door look to see if the bolts " the things that actually lock the door" are on 1 side or 3 sides if they are on 1 side I can open them in less than 10 min no matter the size the ones with 3 sides take me 4 - 5 hours

I always thought that having a semi-hidden safe full of bricks was your best option :-). Then keep your valuables somewhere else; like a bank safety deposit box.

very interesting thread, and I thank all who have contributed.
I was a policeman for 30 years. My observation is that nothing will stop a determined theif, and so, security must include a policy, applicable to all family members, of not drawing attention to a collection.
Secondly, most theives are not very bright. I like the idea of a "second" safe, not too difficult to find, and with some weights inside, to distract the thief: he steals the low-value safe, thinking it is the only one.
Yes, bolting the safe to a floor and/or wall helps, but it is not always practicable.
Yes, kilograms help.
Yes, a dog helps.
But, I think that the most effective method is an in-floor safe: that way, you pay only for the "door", and utilize the planet-Earth, and the weight of your house to create the other "sides". If ever I renovate or extend my home, I'll incorporate something of that nature.

Another word on avoiding attention: I recently read the autobiography of one of the Great Train Robbers (1963, England - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_...bbery_(1963) )
he had been a career burglar before moving to robbery. He wrote that every "job" that he undertook was based on a "tip".
So, it seems to me that minimizing the number of people in a position to give a "tip" would be an enhancement of security
[and no, I'm not contemplating "minimizing with extreme prejudice"]

I got a nice 400lb.+ safe a couple of years ago for $50.
My wife opined that people with safes for sale would take any offer if their moving day was imminent and they wanted to avoid dealing with the safe.Sure enough at the end of November she found three,two were now $0,and the other was $50.I took the $50 one because there were no stairs to go up or down and she threw in 2 printers,a fax machine,a desk,and all the stacking chairs we could fit on the truck.

If you read my post up above, the sixth word says sentry safe... LOL

Peter THOMAS wrote: "So, it seems to me that minimizing the number of people in a position to give a "tip" would be an enhancement of security"

loose lips sink ships - I agree, the less people know about your collection(s) is the best security possible. I too like the idea of a 'decoy' safe. I do however confess to preferring the security of the bank safety deposit box - at least for the more valuable items.

Can't beat a safety deposit box at the bank there is no way you will be robbed of your goodies!!