At What Point Is A Collection Considered Valueable?

A false wall? What, in the house library, with a certain book needing to be tilted to activate the mechanism. Who has that? That would be crazy expensive to install if even possible depending on the architecture of your home. I might as well hire an armed guard to stand next to my coins 24 hours a day.

Safety deposit boxes are good, but you have to be selective if you can't get a larger box (I have been on a waiting list for years, for the largest box at my bank). For everything else, I opted for insurance. When it comes to collecting, you cannot recover the time lost put into new varieties and the like, but the coins are merely items, like a piece of art on a wall or my wife's jewelry. Most home insurance only covers numismatic items up to $1000. Note that you have to keep meticulous records and documents (auction receipts or coin bourse receipts). Third party coin insurance will vary based on your living set-up, for example it is cheaper for a high-rise concrete condo with a doorman and security measures, but even for a typical house with decent security precautions (and a big angry dog!), it is cheaper than insuring a second car or motorcycle. I pay a heck of a lot more for green fees, golf balls and tips for the beer-cart-girl on an annual basis... and have nothing to show for it except some lost balls and a bit of swearing! You can drive for a lifetime, and never get into accidents, yet you spend thousands to insure your car. It is all a matter of perspective.

I would die protecting my family, but I would never put them at risk protecting my coins... worst case scenario, I can mitigate against the loss of a collection.

That is movie stuff, anyone with a bit of carpentry skills can accomplish the task of creating a false wall in a weekend of work. It also helps to have a reasonably sized house too, false walls are virtually impossible to hide in a 750 sq ft one bedroom shotgun house.