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Would it be worth it to hire a safe cracker, or just buy a new safe for the homestead?

LongacreLongacre Posts: 16,717 ✭✭✭
in U.S. Coin Forum
I was helping my father in law yesterday clean out his file room at his law office yesterday, when I spied a nice, classic, old safe sitting on the floor. I don't remember the brand name. The safe was not large, but a decent size, perhaps a little bigger than the size of one of those banker's boxes that you keep files in. The safe was extremely heavy.

I asked my father in law what was in the safe, because I figured it was loaded full with millions of dollars in cash. He replied that he thought it was empty, but was not sure, because he forgot the combination to it years ago. image He said the safe could be mine for the taking, to perhaps keep some of my excessively rare coins in it while temporarily out of the bank safe deposit box. However, I would need to hire a safe cracker (or blow it with some dynamite like Yosimite Sam image, if I wanted to use it.

Does anyone know whether it makes economic sense to try to get someone to crack this safe? Can any old locksmith crack the combination? Or would it just be easier to buy a new safe? I am not even sure how much it costs for a new safe. Any thoughts?
Always took candy from strangers
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)

Comments

  • TwoSides2aCoinTwoSides2aCoin Posts: 44,554 ✭✭✭✭✭
    My dad used to run a credit union. The combination had to be "re set". I don't think it cost very much but that was years ago. Last year, a credit union that my brother belongs to got rid of their safe and he was fortunate enough to get it from them. For weeks , he drove it around in the bed of his pick- up truck.

    I asked him why he hadn't put it in his garage or basement. He just gave me that look like I was dumb for asking and said " Safe Driving" image

    ``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5

  • newbiecollectornewbiecollector Posts: 2,992
    Just a guess, but maybe it would be better to try and find the manufacturer of the safe and state the problem and see if they will help
    Becoming informed but still trying to learn every day!
    1-Dammit Boy Oct 14,2003

    International Coins
    "A work in progress"


    Wayne
    eBay registered name:
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  • dac076dac076 Posts: 817 ✭
    I had to have a home safe cracked one time when some idiot forgot the combination image I think it cost around $150, which for you would be worth it. A decent safe will cost much more than that. One note - the estimates varied widely, with one company quoting me a per hour price that would have run over $400.
  • rgCoinGuyrgCoinGuy Posts: 7,478 ✭
    A safe is like a box of chocolates... you never know what you're gonna get.

    I vote safe cracker. image
    imageQuid pro quo. Yes or no?
  • ziggy29ziggy29 Posts: 18,668 ✭✭✭
    Maybe you can hire the folks who unsealed Al Capone's vaults, especially if there's nothing in them.

    Geraldo Rivera available at extra cost, tax not included.
  • guitarwesguitarwes Posts: 9,290 ✭✭✭

    I vote Plasma Cutter! They're fun.image


    I think around $150 is the going rate for a Cracker. A new small safe that would be worth buying would cost upwards of 1K or more.

    wes

    @ Elite CNC Routing & Woodworks on Facebook. Check out my work.
    Too many positive BST transactions with too many members to list.
  • RYKRYK Posts: 35,799 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I vote new safe for these reasons:

    1. The Longacre back was not built for moving a heavy safe. You are going to need to hire someone to move it, and this will add to the cost of rehabbing it.

    2. The contents could be filthy and disgusting, and the Longacre constitution may not be able to stomach what lies within. Factor in a trip to the urgent care in the overall cost.

    3. A new fireproof safe, delivered and installed in your home by a specialty company will cost but a fraction of the value of your least valuable coin--say $1000 or so.
    My Box of 20: https://pcgs.com/setregistry/collectors-showcase/box-20/ryks-gold-box-20/17132
  • dac076dac076 Posts: 817 ✭
    I vote new safe for these reasons:

    1. The Longacre back was not built for moving a heavy safe. You are going to need to hire someone to move it, and this will add to the cost of rehabbing it.

    2. The contents could be filthy and disgusting, and the Longacre constitution may not be able to stomach what lies within. Factor in a trip to the urgent care in the overall cost.

    3. A new fireproof safe, delivered and installed in your home by a specialty company will cost but a fraction of the value of your least valuable coin--say $1000 or so.



    True, but you forgot one important consideration. Can Longacre live with never knowing what was in the safe (if anything)??

  • LongacreLongacre Posts: 16,717 ✭✭✭


    << <i>The Longacre back was not built for moving a heavy safe. >>



    So true. My back was hurting just watching the painters at my house yesterday. Longacre is way too genteel to extend a 28' ladder, let alone climb up it. image
    Always took candy from strangers
    Didn't wanna get me no trade
    Never want to be like papa
    Working for the boss every night and day
    --"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
  • cohocorpcohocorp Posts: 1,371 ✭✭
    i had to have a locksmith come to my home one time to crack a fairly small safe. i forgot the combo. he was able to figure out the combination. i was glad he didnt have to drill it. because i had 4 handguns in it. iirc it cost me around $125 for him to come out.
    my ebay listings
  • mgoodm3mgoodm3 Posts: 17,497 ✭✭✭
    Just take some of the Tiffany's fund and buy a new safe and crack the old one too.
    coinimaging.com/my photography articles Check out the new macro lens testing section
  • tjkilliantjkillian Posts: 5,578 ✭✭✭
    I found a safe in my home five years after I moved in. It was empty, but we did not know the combination. Since it was a built in safe, it was worth keeping. We hired a safecracker and he was quite reasonable. Less than $125.00, if I remember correctly.
    Tom

  • jdillanejdillane Posts: 2,365 ✭✭✭
    I picked up an 800# safe a couple yrs ago for a couple grand. It was the safe company's own safe so I saved about a grand since it was not brand new. She's a beast...especially compared to the 50# safe I got for my 8th birthday. Boy that was cool until the tumblers froze and I had to drill out the lock to get to my treasure!
  • IGWTIGWT Posts: 4,975 ✭
    Borrow a stethoscope from RYK and give it a shot yourself. I've always wondered if you can hear the tumblers, bearings, or whatever they are fall into place.
  • Steve27Steve27 Posts: 13,275 ✭✭✭
    I vote for, take the safe but use it as a decoy; that way you don't need the combination.
    "It's far easier to fight for principles, than to live up to them." Adlai Stevenson
  • RYKRYK Posts: 35,799 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>I vote for, take the safe but use it as a decoy; that way you don't need the combination. >>



    That's a good idea. Put your coins in the Quaker oats container in the pantry (take out the Quaker oats first image ).
    My Box of 20: https://pcgs.com/setregistry/collectors-showcase/box-20/ryks-gold-box-20/17132
  • conradicalconradical Posts: 26
    "use it as a decoy"
    Great Idea!!!!
  • fastrudyfastrudy Posts: 2,096 ✭
    I vote for, take the safe but use it as a decoy; that way you don't need the combination

    What will you do when a would be robber holds a gun to your head and demands that you open it?
    Successful transactions with: DCarr, Meltdown, Notwilight, Loki, MMR, Musky1011, cohodk, claychaser, cheezhed, guitarwes, Hayden, USMoneyLover

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  • Type2Type2 Posts: 13,985 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Use theys guys they can open your safe or show you how. image


    Hoard the keys.
  • RYKRYK Posts: 35,799 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>I vote for, take the safe but use it as a decoy; that way you don't need the combination

    What will you do when a would be robber holds a gun to your head and demands that you open it? >>



    I trust that the Longacre bodyguards will not let things go that far.
    My Box of 20: https://pcgs.com/setregistry/collectors-showcase/box-20/ryks-gold-box-20/17132
  • thezookrewthezookrew Posts: 650 ✭
    Why don't you just pick up the safe and shake it to see if it REALLY is empty? image Think of it as one HUGE (heavy) present!! image

    Perry
    TheZooKrew
    Morgan, modern sets, circulated Kennedys, and Wisconsin error leaf quarter Collector
    First (and only - so far) Official "You Suck" Award from Russ 2/9/07
  • Steve27Steve27 Posts: 13,275 ✭✭✭
    "What will you do when a would be robber holds a gun to your head and demands that you open it?"

    Tell the robber "only my wife knows the combination."
    "It's far easier to fight for principles, than to live up to them." Adlai Stevenson
  • mrearlygoldmrearlygold Posts: 17,858 ✭✭✭
    The cheapest, smallest TL-15 safe ( burglary safe, all else is not worth the time or $ ) will cost you roughly 2K, delivered and installed.

    Coin's for sale/trade.


    Tom Pilitowski
    US Rare Coin Investments
    800-624-1870

  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 46,799 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>2. The contents could be filthy and disgusting, and the Longacre constitution may not be able to stomach what lies within. >>



    You think there may be porn inside? image

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
    "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
    "Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire

  • ScarsdaleCoinScarsdaleCoin Posts: 5,324 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Either way ..... contact Richard at Empire Safe.... tell him Jon @ Coinfest sent you...

    they are great safe company here in the tri state and the official safe supplier at Coinfest

    either way you go they will help you out.... I would say they will sell you a new one since most of the older ones are really not that burglar proof

    Jon
    Jon Lerner - Scarsdale Coin - www.CoinHelp.com
  • pennyanniepennyannie Posts: 3,929 ✭✭✭
    I vote to blow it to pieces. Spend an hour searching the net on homemade explosives. If it calls for 5 pounds then triple it. Set up a video camera and let it rip. After the dust settles and you have been bonded out of jail, you can keep the forum updated on the legal ramifactions. Plus we will get to see how good you really are in the courtroom incase a fellow forum member needs a lawyer in the future.image
    Mark
    NGC registry V-Nickel proof #6!!!!
    working on proof shield nickels # 8 with a bullet!!!!

    RIP "BEAR"
  • coinkatcoinkat Posts: 23,809 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Unfortunately, Longacre, due the physical conditions associated with his back, he will never make the cut on the Pro-Bowlers Tour...


    What a great loss.image


    On the bright side, Longacre will continue inspire a new generation dedicated to collecting coins


    edited to add:

    As for the question... Longacre needs a traditional safe made in the days when safes were safes... used by the titans of the financial sector, not something put together with chemical combinations of inferior materials made overseas that is contributing to the foreign trade deficit.

    Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.

  • BlindedByEgoBlindedByEgo Posts: 10,754 ✭✭✭✭✭
    'Crack it.

    Check out my current listings: https://ebay.com/sch/khunt/m.html?_ipg=200&_sop=12&_rdc=1

  • TwoSides2aCoinTwoSides2aCoin Posts: 44,554 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>"What will you do when a would be robber holds a gun to your head and demands that you open it?"

    Tell the robber "only my wife knows the combination." >>



    I agree with Romeo !

    ``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5

  • LoveMyLibertyLoveMyLiberty Posts: 1,784 ✭✭✭
    If you decide to keep it,,,do you really want a dead body in your study for years & years?

    Just tell the maid, "Stay away from that safe; Don't even dust it!" She'll have it opened
    by Friday.
    image
    My Type Set

    R.I.P. Bear image
  • cinman14cinman14 Posts: 2,489 ✭
    the last time I bought a safe off Craigslist it turned out to be a late 1890's safe that weighed 1200lbs...

    The reason I post this was once I stripped the years of old paint off. I discovered the original gold letter paint
    Awesome piece of history...And dang heavy too..8inch thick walls of concrete and steel...image

    Ok back to the OP the person who bought it had the dial pad drilled out and the combo reset..He said he couldn't
    remember how much it was but that he thought it was pretty reasonable.....does it look like this..If it does and you
    don't want it let me know....

    image
  • DCAMDCAM Posts: 300 ✭✭✭
    Call the safe manufacturer, there should be a serial number on the back. They may be able to give you a combination to try or send a key.
    Buy More Coins!!
  • BECOKABECOKA Posts: 16,961 ✭✭✭
    Shoot, now we have to know if there is anything inside.

    At the very least get it opened already. image
  • cinman14cinman14 Posts: 2,489 ✭


    << <i>Call the safe manufacturer, there should be a serial number on the back. They may be able to give you a combination to try or send a key. >>



    I did have an old sentry safe that I locked the combo inside...imageimage

    I had to send a letter stating I was the owner. The serial number and it all had to be notarized along with
    13 dollars. About 2 weeks later the combo showed up..Now I just tape the combo's to the outside of the safes image

    image

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