Home Safes Again Fail To Protect Coins From Thieves

Time and time again home safes are proven to not be a safe place to store coins and other valuables.

In the case below from Arkansas a guy thought his coins, bullion, cash, jewelery and other valuables (total value = $250,000) were safe in his two home safes. But someone knew about the safes and that they contained valuables. Last August thieves broke into the residence, removed the safes and cut them open. The thieves were later arrested and some of the stolen property was recovered. The victim is now suing the thieves for his losses and punitive damages.

Lawsuits filed against robbery suspects

A few coins (one valued at $5,000) and the silver bar were recovered.

It's bad enough to have your stuff stolen. It makes it worse to find out that the thieves sold some of it for 0.15% of its actual value. You just know that, even if your coins are recovered, the thieves are not taking good care of them.

No word on whether any of the items were insured or if the victim has since rented a safe deposit box.

 

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Stories like that continue to make me a believer in the safe deposit box for high value coins. Safes are good for home storage, but a good hiding place is sometimes better than steel.

 

No security system is full proof until it is fool proof, ie don't share your coin habit with others. Your friends, family, etc are all potential sources of information for the ones that would like to appropriate your stuff. Often times when these things happen it is an inside job.

 

I'm trying to figure how $59,000.00 ballooned into $250,000.00? :goof: I swear I'm going to remove where I am from, on my CT profile.

Ribbit

 

What kind of safes are these people using that 2 guys can walk in and remove it so easliy? I'll say one thing, if a couple of theives can remove my safe, I'd be so impressed, I'd let them keep it. People with that much invested in valuables are idiotic not to have a better safe.
Guy~

 

Not related to this particular incident, but came across this interesting site: http://www.numismaticcrimes.org/

 

A news report this week quoted law enforcement officials here as saying that cash-based entities would be more at risk of robbery as the economy continues to decline. The reference was to businesses but it's not a stretch to extend this to known collectors.

Sad that it makes it more dangerous to share a hobby, but that's the way it goes.

Note to criminals: Our accumulation continues to be less than the deductible on my homeowner's insurance. Nothing to see here...

 

it would cost me more to replace the broken door or window than my coin collection.

 

LOL...Me too!! It weighs a measley 1300 lbs (empty) has a 1 hr fire rating and has 8 2.5 inch diameter hardened steel locking bars. Plus it has 6-5" stainless Steel bolts drilled into the concrete floor from the inside of the safe! It is built into a room that would require the wall to be taken out to remove it as well.

Then on the outside there is a Security system, a S&W 44 Mag, a crazy Marine behind that 44 mag and a whole house alarm system.
If they can carry it...I welcome them too...


RickieB

 

It makes me sad to see anyone's collection stolen. I think the personal value to my collection is much greater than the cash value. I bet it's safe to say a great many collectors feel the same way.

 

You forgot the early warning Poodle Sentry System.

Ribbit

 

There ya go. That's how ya do it. :thumb:

The recurring theme is "the thieves carried it away". Bolt it down !

 

The itsy bitsy kind that allow you to put two of them into a closet.

 

Use the safe for bait.

I've heard you could use your safe for bait.
A guy I know says he uses his safe as bait. He has a safe, a home type around 200 lbs empty. It is bolted to the floor and filled with bags of sand or boxes of penny's. Total weight loaded is about 800 lbs - it is just inviting enough for a couple of thieve to attempt to pry it up and carry it off. Then all his coins are in old (empty and clean) dry food boxes in the pantry and appear as common food dry goods. The hope is either the crooks would spend time trying to open or move the safe thinking that is where the valuables are.
I also heard of a older couple who had a lot of gold type coins. They put them up loose in cans of pecans or walnuts near the bottom of a filled container so at first glance they appear to be cans of nuts. Then even if they shove their hand in the tin with the coins near the bottom they may not find them. The coins are said to have stayed in perfect mint state condition after many decades.
A coin dealer I know has a safe so large and modern it rivals any safe at any jeweler and appears to impregnable from what I can see. When attempting to open this model it looks itself down and only the company that makes it can open it, plus it weighs over 4000 lbs. empty.
I always have thought that the more fancy the coin albums or boxes you have, the rosewood, walnut and custom made stuff is just right (if left out during the day) for tempting local home maintenance persons or visitors to your house. This is another reason keeping coins in plain jane in 3-ring
binders is a good option.

This is a great topic to discuss and we all can use the many different helpful responses we can get here.
Good topic,
Ben

 

Have you seen the safe cracking programmes on one of the news shows? It is amazing how quickly most safes are vulnerable to a quick breaching. Any safe you buy in most stores is penetrable by common thieves, the only deterrent factor is to family members etc.

 

Certainly that's how I would feel. I've spent happy times with Thalia Elizabeth working on our respective collections-- mostly hers. :hug:

 

Oh, my! It has happened again:

Rare coins, jewelry reported stolen from Vero Beach home

 

Hummm....not surprized by this one HoBo..a walll safe would aeem to me an easy target...a few min to use the sawzall tool, cut it from the wall and boogie!

WOW...whata shame!


RickieB

 

may i ask rickieB how much did that monster of a safe cost including installation.

 

I do not use safes. All of my coins are kept in my upstairs bedroom inside ten vintage fruit cake tins. I do not like the idea of putting the coins in safes so they cannot be appreciated. All you can do is think "Oh yeah! I just bought a ANACS certified MS 65 1943 copper! Let's throw this baby in the safe, never to be looked at again!" It's just illogical! You should appreciate your coins, If not, Why not just go out and buy posters containing photos of an 1804 dollar? It just would take the enjoyment out of numismatics for me.