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Pillar of the Community
1283 Posts |
I really would like an antique floor safe. I have been looking on Craigslist and through my local auction listings but I don't see much. What should I be looking for other it being functional? I am looking to spend $750 or less but I will spend more if the right opportunity arises. What safe/vault do you use to store your PM? I have my bulk bullion at the bank but I just enjoy keeping my good stuff close to me so I can look at it whenever I want. Thanks for the help guys.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
830 Posts |
Edited by GoThunder
08/17/2011 9:53 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
651 Posts |
ask a locksmith,sometimes they have one for sale or know someone
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
I would buy only a small safe. Half of my safe is filled with lead bars and so it is quite impossible to move.
Naturally, that creates a limited storage space problem for me, so I keep only the most valued coins in the safe. That's OK for me, because I like to refer to my collection frequently, and it would be a bind to take out a significant proportion of my collection, if the safe were larger.
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
I can understand a floor safe at a convenience store. In a residence, I wouldn't want to be bending over to lift and arrange heavy bars/bags of PM.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
830 Posts |
Maybe better for gold than silver, silver is pretty bulky in any quantity.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4008 Posts |
Quote:
What should I be looking for other it being functional? Odd as this may sound, THE thing to look for is one that has the combination to get it open. When I was shopping for a safe, I checked out Craig's List and saw many safes that people had but they had no combination for it. It was locked and they had no idea how to open it. A good locksmith could probably open it and provide the combination needed for the new owner but this is not a sure thing. Quote:
What safe/vault do you use to store your PM? I bought one of those Liberty gun safes from Lowes for $397. It is the Centurion model and has 12 cubic feet of room inside it. I replaced the shelves with gray felt-covered 1/2" plywood so that the PMs could be placed on flat shelves with no cutouts for gun barrels. I saved the old shelves in case I ever sell this to a gun owner. It weighs about 265 lbs. and my son helped me get it home and into the house. He then helped me bolt it to the concrete floor and to the wall studs behind it. We used four 4" long 1/2" diameter bolts (with concrete anchors) into the floor and four 2.5" long 3/8" lag screws into the studs. All of the screws and bolts have large washers under them. It is VERY solidly mounted now. I also got one of those Sentry "fire proof" lock boxes that they sell at Wal*Mart. This thing was on sale for $20 and is great additional insurance against loss from fire. It fits very neatly in the bottom of the safe. We have our birth certificates, passports, some government bonds, and various other important papers in there as well as copies of our credit cards (front and back), so we can quickly contact the companies involved if they are lost or stolen. Not being satisfied with that, I also rented a safety deposit box at our local CU. If diversification is good for investing, it should be good for PM storage as well.  At the moment, I have about 158 oz. of silver in the safe. Will use the SDB for any gold that I buy as well as copies of any important papers. |
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Moderator
 United States
189222 Posts |
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If diversification is good for investing, it should be good for PM storage as well No doubt, a good strategy and worth repeating.  |
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Valued Member
United States
370 Posts |
I'd love to have an old antique safe if I had the room. I like the look.
Edited by Lion4Life
08/19/2011 2:07 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
830 Posts |
Yeah the old ones look cool, and they seemed to have spared no steel in the making of them. The main concern I'd have is the condition of the lock, it may require some maintenance from a locksmith.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1026 Posts |
I bought a good BIG gun safe on sale at the Bass Pro Shop $900.00 and I also have it bolted to the concrete floor in the basement. It is an electric combination safe uses a 9 volt battery for the combination. One problem I do have with it is there is no room for my guns  Edited by Brucec
08/19/2011 5:37 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
830 Posts |
Yeah my first gun safe got filled up, so I sold it and got a bigger one. It weights 1000 lbs totally empty and was over $3000 about 14 years ago, its just about full too. Now I'm looking to diversify. Edited by GoThunder
08/19/2011 6:05 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4008 Posts |
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No doubt, a good strategy and worth repeating. Thanks, JBuck. I am in awe at your number of posts!  |
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Valued Member
United States
320 Posts |
Not meaning to contradict the folks who have a gun safe, that's certainly better than nothing and will likely nix 99% of your home burglaries. However, when I was researching a couple of years ago I couldn't find a one of them actually rated as a safe at all! If rated as anything, they were rated as RSC's or residential security containers.
Most use a thin-ish layer of steel, then gypsum or other insulating material (for the fireproof factor) then another thin steel. So the walls look real thick but they're not. And then if it has internal hinges, that's not a good thing... you never see internal hinges on a serious safe, and that's because it should also have locking bolts on all 4 pieces of the door-- top, bottom, and sides. To where when the door is closed, the hinges do nothing and there is no need to protect them.
You want a steel security safe, bolted to the ground. And it must be bolted down, else two guys and a dolly could wheel it away no matter how big it is.
A "b" rated safe is good, that's 1/4 inch steel box with 1/2 inch on the door. This is often used at businesses for overnight cash storage. TL-15 is better. This means that professional safe-crackers, armed with tools and the plans to the safe, took at least 15 minutes to get in. TL-30 is better yet but very spendy and takes up a lot of total room as compared to the internal space.
My advice would be go to a locksmith or two that have used safes, tell them your budget and space requirements, as well as any cosmetic issues. I wouldn't be surprised if there's someone that makes new safes that look like antiques... but they know the business and will get you set. And don't forget to change your access code once you purchase it, since the locksmith would have it.
The other good part of this advice is that then your gun safe will be free, so it can be filled with its intended cargo.
Edited by Secret Argent Man
08/21/2011 01:56 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4008 Posts |
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I bought a good BIG gun safe on sale at the Bass Pro Shop $900.00 and I also have it bolted to the concrete floor in the basement. It is an electric combination safe uses a 9 volt battery for the combination. So what happens when the battery poops out? Can you still open the safe? |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
830 Posts |
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So what happens when the battery poops out? Can you still open the safe? Ed, I have an electronic lock. I've never let it run down completely, it starts putting out lower volume beeps when the batteries get low. It holds programing when you change the batteries so I'm guessing it would hold it when the batteries run down, but no you can't open the safe without battery power to the lock. I wish now I'd gotten the dial type lock because they are more reliable in the long run. I had a scare this summer as I was trying to change the combo it didn't work and it locked me out with the old combo and the new combo I had tried to put in. After calls to the manufacturer and a locksmith the only option was to drill it out and replace the lock. I had one suggestion I try replacing the batteries first, so I went to the store bought some new batteries. Before I put the new batteries in I tried it one more time and the old combo worked. I found out later it has a 15-20 min lockout feature if the wrong combo is put in repeatedly. I'm also worried about the lock holding up to an EMP event, should one ever happen in my lifetime. It is a very frustrating experience to be locked out of your own safe. Edited by GoThunder
08/22/2011 12:18 pm
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Replies: 16 / Views: 5,389 |
Posted 08/17/2011 11:19 pm
