What do you do with your coin collection?

I keep my collection in a large safe bolted to the floor. I also have my alarm on most fo the time. I only show it to family and very close friends. I do have one of those wood display cases that i ocassionally use to showcase 1 or 2 or my favorites.

 

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What a miserable society we have mustered where none of us can talk about, show off, display or even mention that we own anything of value. It's not just coins but the same is true of anything of value. If people know you even have a large amount of tools, they dend to vanish. Stamps, little cars, guns, knives or just about anything that is not nailed down is subject for theft. About the only collection anyone can show off is beanie babies since no value nowadays for even a crook.

 

I hate to say it, but I agree...

Its a shame that if you don't want to worry about your possesions being snatched, you have to keep them a secret and sometimes even go to great lengths to protect them, like buying a Safe or Safe Deposit box.

Then, its an even bigger shame that you have to worry about putting your stuff in a safe deposit box and the government stealing it...

I've read about peoples fear of this on several forums and I thought it was just a bunch of Government haters on the Anti-bandwagon till my father brought it up in a conversation one day....

 

I suppose there are people around here that would rip me off but this town only has a population of around 3000 so it's like Mayberry or something. I don't worry too much about anyone breaking in but I keep the few things I have worth anything at the bank. Maybe when I'm old and gray.....ummmm.....er I'll have something worth protecting but until then I've talked about collecting with about anyone who will listen and can keep their eyes from glazing over with boredom. Unfortunatley those people are few and far between anymore. Except for one guy at work who kinda gets into it and two of my kids I don't even bring it up anymore, they just don't care, some of them even get annoyed if the guy at work and I go on very long. I've managed to get some interest if I have an ASE or maybe a flying eagle cent to show off but that interest usually dies quickly and then everyone starts in about american idol or something. Oh well.

 

I have a fire-proof, water-proof, heavy heavy safe that is bolted to the concrete slab in my home. It has a combination and key lock and is stored in a locked closet with a steel core door with deadbolt. And I open that bad boy everyday and show my coins to all kinds of people, family, freinds, neighbors, work aquaintances, random strangers I drag off the street, etc. I love my coins and sharing the collecting bug/history buff part of myself with others. I'm just not worried about anyone stealing them. If they do they are gonna have to be really determined and bring, drills, crowbars, and explosives, and your average thief just doesn't wander around with those things. Most burglaries are crimes of opportunity anyway, plus I keep my collection insured to the teeth...just...in...case.

 

I mostly take pictures of them and put them on coin talk! Then I give my kids a bunch of magnifying glasses and let them loose on the them.

Ruben

 

I was about 8yrs old when I started saving the shiny silver Morgan and peace Dollars my grandfather would give me for holidays, birthdays and special occasions. I spent every cent I earned by doing erands and odd jobs on starting a small type collection. I kept detailed records and would proudly show them to anyone who would listen. Until I was 15, I returned from school one day to discover that someone had broke into our house stole my collection, my family's TV and beat the living heck out of our new puppy. Needless to say I was devistated and refused to even look through my change for about 30 years. Then one Birthday my Mother who had kept my note cards of all my stolen coins, gifted me a collection of coins that she carefully tried to replace over the years. It was such a surprise, i couldn't believe my eyes.
Even with the loving replacement of the stolen coins, I was still frightened to death that I'd loose them again. they stayed hid, buried under boxes in the attic for a few more years until I moved and went through them. I know share my hobby with my mother who is an avid collector and keep mine in a safe that is bolted to the floor and wall in my closet. It may not stop them from taking it, but it will slow them down. I share my new enthusiasm with just a couple of friends. I don't ever speak of it to anyone else and I never leave anything hanging around my house that even hints that someone may find old or valuable coins in my possesion.

 

Well I guess it's just sad times everywhere you go now . I,ve got to the point I,ve store mine in a 600 lb safe thats bolted to floor and wall. and thats just the ones I keep around the house , my expensive ones are in safe deposit box.
I,m do share them with my close friends who are interested .
My 10 year old daughter is an absolute coin nut (worse than I am lol)

 

Hate to tell you this Speedy, but the only vehicle that I have ever had stolen from me was taken by a policeman. They later found it wrapped around a tree in Wisconsin and never did catch the guy, as far as I know. Did get a new car out of the deal, so wasn't all that put out after the initial shock.

 

Some of the farmers around my piece of the country will not tell the local sheriff dept. when they are out of town because its the only sure way to get your property vandalized. The city police are O.K. but once you get out into the unincorporated county you take your chances with what passes for the law.

 

Around here Moen its the other way around....the County is better IMHO than the city....but then the county isn't that good!---that is changing

Sorry to hear that OldDan....I'm alittle picky I guess with my friends...and I feel safe.

Speedy

 

Like many others, I keep mine locked in a safe for my own pleasure as well as a few trusted others.

 

Yeah, we have a Boxer puppy, and she's also bought more stuff for him than I care to recall. Dogs get all the attention nowadays...

 

I show them mainly to my family when I can get them interested in them. My father and grandfather have some interest, but not much. My younger brother seems a bit more interested. I look at them myself quite often. I keep them in my apartment, it has a monitored alarm system so not too worried about security, and there aren't very many especially valuable coins in there anyway. I collect by type usually (do have year and mintmark collections of a few US coins though) and most of my coins are world coins I have interest in but don't have much intrinsic value. Do have a few interesting world silver coins though, especially Canadian and Mexican coins I got frm my grandmother. I decided that any coin I have that exceed $200 in value I'd keep in my safety deposit box. So far that only appiles to an 1875-S 20 cent piece (ANACS EF 40) that I recently bought. I love obsoletw US cois that msot people don't even know existed lol... so fat have a 2, 3 and 20 cent, and have been trying to acquire a US half cent lately. I get outbid on eBay a lot lol... I want a coin that is at least recognizable for what it is but not too expensive, probably want at least a Fine or so.

 

Around here there are to many cops themselves being arrested for crimes. I still remember a really big police scandal where an entire police station were the neiborhood criminals. I crew up just not trusting anyone. It is a shame when a collection can not be displayed or discussed openly.

 

My borough has one cop, and I've only seen him patrolling since the bank was robbed about a month ago and they didn't catch the guy right away. (To be fair, it was only the third bank robbery in 50 years, and the first in 30. They caught the thieves within 30 minutes those times.)

So I keep my collection under lock and key, but tell no one except my wife exactly what I have.

 

I dont show strangers but any one i now I havent spent more than $150 yet on my Collection.

 

We live in a small town of around 5000 people here (including the "outlying" rural areas about 15 miles every way). I believe the nearest coin dealer is 200 miles away, I think. Everybody that I know of in town knows that I collect coins. I share some off and on with people (even the gold and silver). People pretty much know that I collect and research coins, and I am often asked daily by one person or another about a certain coin they've been "holding on to" or that a relative has, etc. etc. People that I have run into around town have actually shown an interest in coins. I believe that it has to do with my openness about it.

I really do not worry about someone coming in and stealing anything, really. In fact, there have been a number of times that my wife has "accidentally" left the front door wide open to come pick me up at work and run errands for a few hours. And if somebody did steal anything, I WOULD find out People in small towns like to talk, and information travels fast. Then, I am sure there would be hell to pay once the culprit was identified within the community.

Originally, I come from the tri-county area of Southern California (Orange/LA/Inland Empire), and it is WAY different there. Someone can break into your home and beat you up, and your neighbor will claim to have heard and seen nothing as they are sitting there filming it with their camera.

As for where the coins actually are....I'm in the middle of cataloging everything and weeding out duplicates, so they're sitting out in the open in my office inside of small USPS Priority boxes About $250 worth of silver sitting on the photography table, and my newest gold coin resting on top of one of the boxes on the holding table. Being paranoid is only gonna cause me stress which will shorten my life....and I have WAAAAAAAAAY too many coins to collect to have a short life!

 

i normally store my coins using the standard cardboard holders, then insert them into albums... these are the only part of my collection i show ppl... never again proofs. the last time i did so, a relative of mine removed a proof from the capsule and spoiled the entire set. :headbang:

 

I'll go along with the people from small towns as to the honesty of the people there. When the town is really small anyone that would steal anything would be noticed almost instantly. As to the police in those towns, everyone knows them, their families and the families of their families. I used to go to about the middle of Wisconsin some time ago where I had several parcels of land. One time I noticed that in a small town there were lots of cars parked with the keys sticking out of the trunks. I asked a local why and was told so the locks don't freeze up. It gets realy cold around here. I stoped in a local farmers house to see if I could pay him to cut the grass on my land. He wasn't home but the house doors were all open. I waited in my car and when they got home they asked why I didn't wait in the house. He did agree to cut the grass, no charge because he kept the grass for his cows. I bought a rifle up there at a gas station. They think nothing of people buying guns. In towns like that you could leave a coin collection on your front porch as a display I think.