"She had depended on the gold coins for her retirement"

http://www.grandcoulee.com/story/2014/06/11/news/woman-reports-missing-gold-coins/4243.html

Lady had $250,000 in gold coins stolen from her, in spite of her having 6 dogs. So, obviously an inside job.

So just be safe guys, and put your PM where its safe. Don't be all macho, saying "I have X number of guns, I would like to see someone try to steal my pm". This lady had six dogs, and someone still came into her house and found a wrapped, unmarked box with her retirement money in it.

Yes, financial markets can melt down and you can lose a lot of money. PM, though, has THIS risk, that someone can either steal it from you or break into your house and put a gun to your head until you give it to them. So please, just think about the physical security of your "pile", and how you really, really need to have very good protection for it. I simply would find it heartbreaking to ever hear someone here had their life savings stolen, not that I do not feel bad for this lady.

 

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That is too bad. Definitely someone with inside info. Hope they recover the hoard. I agree with you and have all valuables at the bank in an SDB.

 

This is why I usually don't share with people the stuff I buy and also why almost nobody knows where I live.

 

This. I'm not sure what I'll do once I retire, but I'm pretty sure my plans will NOT center around 24/7 duty as an armed guard.

 

the SDB is best

 

that is sad. hide it and tell no one but your family it will be passed on to. or get a bank safety deposit box.

 

Your family can tell other people too...

 

1) Shut your mouth. 2) Diversify. 3) If you follow 1 and 2 I really don't see how you can end up in bad shape.

 

Only my children and my wife know I collect. I have met other CT members but they only know the metropolitan city I live in. No aunts, uncles and cousins know and not one neighbor has the slightest idea. I don't sell on eBay. I buy/sell mostly at shows and auctions, face to face; with cash. I don't use checks to pay for anything. They will ask you for a drivers license for identity. It has your address on it. As my collection has grown, so has the size of my SDB. This forum is the only place I acknowledge the hobby and I have stopped selling here as well. Never did find anything to buy.

 

not if you tell them not to do so. and explain to them if they do.... it will be left for some other family.

 

Very true. It's a must. Next you have guns, dogs and alarms. Use all security that's possible.

 

Police should start with the kids and grandkids. Maybe one of them has a drug habit, or hates the old lady, whatever. She probably only told a few people about the coins - likely family.

Something like that should have been in the vault at the local bank. Sounds like she wasn't looking at them everyday for numismatic reasons. Feel sorry for her - those coins are as good as gone.

 

With any luck, these were only part of her retirement savings, not 100% of it. Either way, it is a significant loss.

One note about her dogs. People often overestimate the tenacity of their dogs to guard their property. It is certainly possible for someone who is unfamiliar to the dogs to gain access to the property. These were probably golden retrievers or some other pet breed. At most, they might have barked at the intruder, but once inside, they could be appeased with a few treats or some petting. There are a lot of dogs that will only bark at a stranger when there is a person to protect in the house, and will only be aggressive if a stranger tries to harm that person.

I find the assumption that it must have been an inside job because of her dogs to be somewhat presumptuous at best. Depending on how thoroughly her house was ransacked, the fact that the burglar(s) found the coins in a non-descript box could be more of an indicator of inside knowledge.

What's with this live in yard worker? The article says he "came to the property to do yard work", but he was living in her basement? I'm sure the police are all over him as a possible suspect.

Hindsight is 20/20. I'm sure she is wishing she had them securely stored in a SDB now. When I hit the $10k mark, I placed the bulk of my PM in a SDB for two reasons: $10k is more than I would care to lose, and I do not want to give $10k in easy money to a criminal. The only PM I keep at home now are those relatively inexpensive coins that are still in OGP and are too bulky to fit in my SDB. I estimate they are worth less than $3k and they are stored in a properly installed safe.

As others have already noted, please learn from this incident. Don't wait till you experience a burglary that gives you a 20/20 perspective on how you should have had your bullion stored.

 

Nice post Blaubart. I agree. For the record, my comment on an "inside job" was encompassing both the dogs being able to be bypassed as well as a non-descript sealed box being targeted. Who would randomly look at a house, go past 6 dogs, and then choose a sealed non-descript box?

I am similar in my security as you sir. My silver and US coins used to be in a SDB in another state and I bought them to MN not really thinking about it. However, when silver spiked to above $15 and I was fat and stupid with 600 ounces just laying around the house plus my US coins, I finally smartened up and got the largest SDB they had. Today I have all valuable coins in there, with just some junk around my house. $10k is way more than I would ever wish to lose, I would be be playing Sherlock Holmes if I lost $1000 worth.

 

I was ready to go all out vigilante if I ever found out who stole my $1200 mountain bike back in 2000. (I was much more attached to that bike than I am to my coins)

 

I have been thinking about a SDB for my bullion, as my home safe is getting crowded and I almost never pull out the bullion for any reason.

Medoraman, do you mind me asking about how much you pay per year for your SDB? My concern is that if I have $10k in silver, and it costs$200 per year, over a period of 10 years I am losing 20% of the value in fees (presuming the price of silver and SDB fees stay flat). That's a lot vs. keeping it in the safe I already own.

Thoughts?

 

Its a concern, and always has been a downfall to an extent of owning physical PM. I have a SDB that costs me $110 a year, but its 12"x12"x3 foot long. It has to weigh 100 pounds at this point. But, it fits and I do not have to worry about the safety of them. I also have a lot of numismatic coins in there, (about 12 boxes full), so that $110 is only about 2 tenths of a percent of the value a year, much cheaper than any insurance policy. Plus, if you have anything like a rental house or farmland rented put some documents pertaining to the rental in there and deduct it.

 

We keep a number of things besides bullion in our SDB: Backups of our digital photos and important electronic documents, property deeds, vehicle titles, passports, birth certificates, DD214, ATF forms for my suppressors, etc.

We get really good rates, because we're not a big city and our bank gives discounts based on where I work. We have a 5"x10"x21" box and we pay only $30 annually. The only thing I don't like about it is that it is 5" wide and 10" tall, so we can't lay unfolded 8.5"x11" papers down flat in it. I would prefer it to be 10" wide by 5" tall.

 

Wow, that is pretty inexpensive. I have been shopping around here in the NY area, and a 5"x10" box (22 inches long) is $120 per year. For one your (Medoraman's) size its up in the $300-$400 range depending on the bank.