Safe For Coins Questian

If there is some chemical inside fire-proof safes which reacts with coin metals, I haven't heard of it, at least with modern fire-resistant (actually no such thing as "fire-proof") safes. The fire-proof materials are by nature chemically inert so they won't burn (oxidize). I have a small portable (about 40 lbs) Sentry fire-resistant vault/safe about the size of an old typewriter case in which I store my most valuable coins and personal papers. Walmart carries them for about 30 to 40 bucks.

Maybe larger ones designed to protect specific items such as documents release chemicals as part of their fire-resistance design, but general purpose fire-resistant vaults are made of materials which absorb heat for a stated period of time at a stated temperature (typically about 1550 degrees F for a 1/2 hr safe) before failure. Any fire hot enough and long enough to penetrate a fire-resistant safe for a typical rating, say one-half or one hour will melt whatever is inside. Chemical reaction from the melted or oxidized safe materials would be irrelevant. As mentioned earlier, there is no such thing as a "fire-proof" safe; a hot enough fire of long enough duration will eventually penetrate any safe. Determination of what is adequate for an individual's requirements for a safe's resistance to fire depends on the materials to be stored, the physical area available for a safe, the type of materials of the structure which might be burned (I live in my travel trailer; any fully involved fire would be of very short duration), and, of course, cost. A 24-hr 2000-degree F safe is gonna cost a bundle. In the Army dealing with classified documents, we had a wide variety of fire-resistant vaults from which to choose for specific applications; each is a compromise of weight, size, fire-resistance capacity, and $$$. A $10k vault weighing two tons with a four-hour 2000F safe wouldn't work for a 2 1/2-T commo van.

Heavy and bulky I definitely agree with. It's a strain for me to pull my little portable vault off it's storage shelf just to get it into a position to open it.

For most of us, fire is probably the greater risk over theft, but each collector has to make this determination for his/herself. I choose fire over security since to protect my coins, I hired my security team of Colt, Smith and Wesson.

My husband purchased and old bank vault a few years ago. Seemed like a good idea at the time until we got it delivered and realized we needed a boom truck to unload it. We estimated the safe weighed about 1500 lbs. It was dropped once while unloading it,(no damage to the safe at all, just some bruised male egos) had to use a forklift. Using a large dolly to move it into the house, it smashed the door threshold flat. 2 people could almost stand up in it and we use it for everything from his hunting guns to paper work and coins.

What did intrigue me was that a lock smith was able to use the original tumbler on the safe and let us pick the combination numbers. Makes ya wonder how safe a safe really is?

If we ever decide to sell our home, I'm pretty sure they safe would have to stay!

Keeping ones valuables secure is a big part of maintaining your collection.......the best defense is anonomity......or not letting anyone else know about your items or where they are kept.......with enough time any safe can be opened.....fire proof safes may be good against fire but they are lousy at keeping theives out....if they know where it is to begin with.......gun safes arent much better...the ultimate protection against theft IMO would be a safe deposit box.....but if you must keep them around.......get a good sturdy steel safe, one heavy enough not easily removed by one or more sturdy individuals.....these types of safes are best at deterring theft but they are not foolproof.....and they are other things that must be monitered as well such as humidity levels and the environment....lots of stuff to think about......

I have a small collection considered the real value, but I don't know what I would feel if t gets stolen.
I keep my coinsin a small aluminum toolbox and some in folders in my drawer.
Theft is rare in my neighbourhood, and very few people in Turkey know that I have a collection, so I feel safe for the moment.
But I'm considering to get a safe as my collection grows.

The best answer to the safe question I saw was, "Don't buy a $5,000 safe to protect $1,000 worth of valuables...."

That being said, I just bought a safe less than two weeks ago. I looked at prices ranging from $50 (junk) all the way up to a bank vault installed in your home for over $100k.

I settled on a fire proof safe that must weigh a ton. The bottom line is this....NO SAFE is keeping out a professional, period. People can talk all they want about "their" safe is great and blah blah blah, but unless you're spending huge, HUGE, dollars (read Millions of dollars), you're not stopping a pro.

So what is the purpose of a safe? Well, a good safe will prevent the crack junkie from making off with your coins, but the most important aspect, in my opinion, is to prevent your coins from turning into a big gooey pile of metal in the event of a fire.

I was far more interested in the UL fire rating than I was in the burgulary proof aspect of the safe. The one I bought is designed (according to the manf) to prevent humidity from building up inside the safe, and it doesn't have any kind of chemical release in the event of a fire. It's simply rated to withstand some insane amount of heat for three hours, while keeping the inside compartment below paper's combustion level (anyone? Farenheit 4..?) Gold, Silver, and the rest have a far higher melt temp than paper does flash temp, so my safe will prevent my stuff from becoming a pile go golver goo, and that's what's important to me.

As someone else said, the best safe is keep quiet about your posessions. The more people who know you have a coin collection, the larger the chance one of them will try to steal it!

I don't discuss my purchases with anyone except my wife and son. My own mother and father have no idea what I have. It's not that I don't trust them, it's that they might tell somebody who tells somebody and so on, until finally, the wrong person finds out, and tries to get to my bullion.

Djluster,

something else you might keep in mind............we have a 2 drawer "firesafe" filing cabinet we keep at the office, I think it has a 2 hour fire rating, the lock is just a keyed lock, probably not enough to keep out a crook, but they are not terribly expensive. More for fire/water safety then anything else. It's in an office closet, we store mostly vehical/equipment info in there and it's easily accessable. Office Depot, Staples, that kind of store have lots of them and you can use it for paperwork as well as coins for the time being. Just an idea...

Margaret