What kind of safes are most practical for the home collector with a modest collection?

Get them insured! Take pictures if possible, document everything (record grades/cert#'s etc) - I know it can be a monumental task...but if sometime you do end up losing everything to a thief or other natural disaster, at least you'll get some financial compensation. Any Vets out there that bank with USAA? They have a really easy way to insure all your collectibles/valuable personal property.

 

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Don't forget to recharge the transmitter every couple of days.

Also, don't forget that GPS receivers don't work when they're inside metal boxes.

Also, don't forget that transmitters don't work very well when they're inside metal boxes.

In a previous life, I had to work with temperature monitoring devices that used GPS and cellular transmission. That project was short-lived; funny thing, most refrigerators and refrigerated trucks have metal walls.

 

The best safes are the ones no one knows about.
Well maybe your spouse.
I knew a guy that had stuff stashed all over his house.
Also had a safe (safe was full) he built a stairway around it under a window for his cats to sit on.
After he passed I'm sure his wife found a few more hiding places other then the false wall behind the closet.

 

The first place burglars look is in the bedrooms. They know that most people keep their valuables there. Don't make it easy for them, use your imagination and don't put all your eggs in one basket

 

That is why I put all my coins right out on the kitchen table. They will never think to look for them there...

 

Remember to make it difficult for the thieves. Instead of putting the coins on the kitchen table, you put them inside a secret compartment in the table.

 

I watched a guys house for a week and took car of their pets.
When they return home he asked if I was the only one who had been there.
I said yes WHY?
He misplaced a shoe box of gold and was checking with me before he notified the police.
I said go ahead and make the call.
He called back about an hour later and apologized...he forgot he moved the location several times and forgot where he put the box.
I told him next time, let me know and I'll put in in a safe place.
He laughed about the volume and said he would plan better next time.

 

So yesterday I went to a local lock smith and viewed a number of the safes. None of them seem inherently all that secure. The development of fancy locking mechanisms seem to be undermined that they can largely be just picked up and hauled away. Some of the commercial safes seemed to have been designed to be placed in walls. That is not really feasible in an apartment. It seems that a simple safe that is bolted to the floor is perhaps the best option, assuming you have permission to do such a thing. At least then they need to use a crow bar to remove it. Other than that, your about as secure as your front door or your windows, which track records show is notoriously difficult to reasonably secure until you want to live like your in a maximum security prison.

In the end, none of this seems more secure than a locked fileing cabinet.

 

Just DO something to make it more difficult. There's always focus on what's not good enough. Well, it all depends on what type of crook(s) show up. Your crook is going to be somewhere on the spectrum between a punk kid, maybe a druggie and an Oceans 11 crew. More likely lower end to somewhere in between. Maybe one, two or three people but most likely one. Think about what can an average guy carry out? How about two? If you're at home, are you prepared for a gun fight at any time?
If you buy something, how tough is it? Can a pick axe puncture it? If so it's too cheap. Have multiple layers of protection in place. Thieves don't want to get caught. Have multiple cameras, not just one. How visible is it once in place? Garages are a terrible locations to put anything. As someone else said, don't have all eggs in one basket. Multiple locations and keeping it on the down low is going to help you avoid problems.
I watched a burglar that did prison time talk about his experiences. Dogs didn't phase him. They can test a dog easily enough. Unless a dog is actually going to go into attack mode and become vicious, you can't rely on a dog other than maybe a bark to alert you if you're home and it's totally worthless if you're not home.

They would much rather rob an empty house than have someone at home unless they're high and really don't give a.....you get the idea. That's when it really becomes dangerous no matter what you have at home. If you make it easy, don't be surprised if somebody takes advantage of it some day.

 

If your shopping for a safe, consider shopping used.
find a used one that someone is maybe moving and cant take it with them.

Twice as big as you think you need.
A second one makes for easier organizing.

 

I got a pair of brinks 5059s bolted to the floor in my closet (note: not my closet/safe, no pictures allowed in there so you get a "stock" photo lol)