Would a Sentry home safe ruin PSA graded cards stored in it??

bobbyw8469

My girlfriend got me a safe for Xmas. Nice heavy duty one. I am ready things that say you have to be careful what you store in it. Do you think PSA graded cards would be ok?

SidePocket

I don't know how they would get damaged in a sentry, but you may want to think about storing valuable cards in a safe that can be moved. Having been the victim of a "kick in the front door when nobody's home" burglary this past summer the crooks will target that safe, and trust me they can move it if they want to. Unfortunately a safe screams "here are my valuables!". The crooks ripped my gun cabinet off the wall in no time. I actually think hiding your cards keeps them safer from burglary than putting them in a safe that can be moved. I bought a 500 pound safe and had it bolted to the concrete foundation of the house.

3BoyzTrading

It's funny when a shoe box is safer than a safe.

PhilG

Watch some Youtube videos of opening Sentry Safes. I like the one of pressing the reset button with a thin metal strip.

elsnorto

I can't speak to the quality of the Sentry safe in terms of getting it opened, but I would recommend taking the route SidePocket suggested if you are serious about protecting your cards or other valuables.

I would also recommend throwing some silica gel packs in what ever safe you end up using for cards to absorb moisture, especially if you live in an area with considerable humidity.

Snorto~

WhiteTornado

Go with a safe deposit box at a bank.

dtkk49a

My suggestion is to take high quality photographs of your collectibles and then store the collectibles in a safety deposit box at a bank.
You can store those photos on your phone and enjoy looking at your stuff all day, anywhere you are. Meanwhile, your stuff is safely in the bank.

A burglar is going to take your safe or if its too big to take, might wait for you to come home and force you to open it. Not cool.

epislash

I love my sentry safe. It's buried in a deep closet but my collection is in there with no problems. I've kept old graded currency in there as well with no problems. It's the big heavy duty one. I'd recommend it but keep it tucked away to protect from thieves then you probably won't have a problem. As for the contents inside I'm sure if it was kept in a high humid basement or outside then yes it prob wouldn't be good to store them in there. But as with mine tucked away in a room temp closet. It serves it's purpose

seebelow

Side pocket..sorry to hear about that. We've been victims also 20 some years ago. Middle class home but we had nothing of value. Fortunately I guess. Think they got a few bucks and a radio.
How did they rip the bolt out of concrete or went downstairs and just unbolted it? And sounds like they took the 500 lb safe? Down stairs, thru rooms? Sounds like a planned heist. Arrgghhh. Been thinking of getting one and wondering how to secure it.
Guess I'm wondering what's a safe safe to get or don't just don't bother.

SidePocket

Seebelow, I got the big safe after the breakin. I was blessed though - when they ripped the gun cabinet off the wall, they placed it by the front door while they went through the other rooms. At that point a friend drove up to the house to feed our dog (we were on vacation) and the crooks saw her, ran out the door, jumped in their car, and took off leaving the gun cabinet behind. Classic in and out in under ten minutes breakin, fortunately interrupted by an angel! But we learned our lesson about safes.

MULLINS5

We really need to be careful with the technological world we live in (FB, Google, Message Boards, eBay, etc). I'd advise buying a PO Box, they're cheap, to use the address when sending collectibles to people you don't know (eBay sales, for instance). Also, by not posting anything on your FB about owning a shop or a collection that someone nearby will find out about.

Despite living in a low-crime area I am terrified of a break-in. If one ever happens I pray we are away. I used to have my shop on my FB (which was public) until someone in town told me they admired it. After that I made it private because I don't want people here knowing what is in my house. Unfortunately, dealing with mainly books, I cannot store them in a safe.

A bit OT, my apologies.

charrigan

<< <i>We really need to be careful with the technological world we live in (FB, Google, Message Boards, eBay, etc). I'd advise buying a PO Box, they're cheap, to use the address when sending collectibles to people you don't know (eBay sales, for instance). Also, by not posting anything on your FB about owning a shop or a collection that someone nearby will find out about.

Despite living in a low-crime area I am terrified of a break-in. If one ever happens I pray we are away. I used to have my shop on my FB (which was public) until someone in town told me they admired it. After that I made it private because I don't want people here knowing what is in my house. Unfortunately, dealing with mainly books, I cannot store them in a safe.

A bit OT, my apologies. >>



Very good points. I mainly worry about a fire, but theft is also a concern. The PO Box tip is a good one and something I need to consider strongly. It's sad, but I enjoy mail directly to my house and wouldn't love the inconvenience of a box, but it may be worth it for peace of mind on that front. I would also add that it helps to insure your collection and make sure your coverage is strong and could replace a significant portion of your assets, at least financially. It would be horrible to have a major theft but it is reassuring to know that I'd at least have some compensation in that event.

esquiresports

That was a thoughtful Christmas present. You may consider whether the safe itself can be easily hidden (e.g., placed inside another box that wouldn't attract attention or in a discrete location). Even if not used for cards, it can be very useful for storing important documents, passports, etc. Just be sure to have digital copies of everything.

To anyone who would suffer a hardship if their collection is lost/damaged at home, please look into what your home insurance policy covers (usually capped in the four figures) and look into separate collectibles insurance. There are a couple of old threads you can search where it's been discussed. Very inexpensive for the coverage and great peace of mind.

WhiteTornado

The idea of getting a PO box is a good one, especially if you are doing especially valuable deals (of course, one guy’s definition of valuable may differ from another’s).

One more point to make regarding fires. I did some research on home safes a few years ago and from what I recall, there are no home safes that are truly fire-proof. A home safe will keep the fire at bay for a short time, maybe 15-20 minutes, before things in the safe start to catch on fire. That was one of my reasons for opting for a bank safe deposit box instead. Now, could a bank building catch on fire? Sure it could. I just think the odds are more likely of that happening to my house. Plus the bank will have measures that I don’t have at home, such as sprinklers, to help keep fire damage to a minimum.

The argument of “home safe versus bank safe deposit box” is an old one and I’m certainly not looking to stir things up. You can look up old threads not only here but on the coin forums as well, and find that it’s been discussed many times over. There is no one-size-fits-all answer.

I offer my info simply because I happened to research home safes in the past. Getting your safe was a nice gift and it will provide some measure of usefulness for you. Heck, at least you got a collectibles-related gift. I mostly got clothes
LOL.

Downtown1974

Since we're among friends here giving security advice....another good option is to have a 2nd safe. A decoy safe of sorts. Leave the safe that contains your collectibles in a well hidden area, and the 2nd safe filled with 89 Donruss commons in a more conspicuous location. When they see the first safe, they will think they have the loot and most likely not look for anything of value thats not in eye shot.

seebelow

Decoy safe? Great idea actually. Waste of time and energy for them. I like the double boxing idea.

Can you use or "get verified" on eBay/paypal with a p.o. address? I thought somewhere you can not. Another good idea worth thinking about.

Our close friends live in the highest dollar amount homes in a gated community in this city. And the community had three separate home invasions within a year. That's not counting burglaries. I guess it's the old "why rob banks..." Outside and within that town, it's a very low crime area.

The safes I've looked at, if you can get a little less than an hour of heat/ fire resistance inside the safe, you're doing well.

Thanks. And continue with the tips.

PhilG

Personally I use rattlesnakes. For hi value cards one rattlesnake per thirty. For lesser value cards one per fifty. Poisonous snakes work really well and have a side benefit of keeping the mice population down.

Underwriters Laboratories
The most common fire rating is the Underwriters Laboratories (U.L.) 350 degree 1 hour rating. In order for a safe to earn this rating, the manufacture must submit the safe to U.L., it is then heated in a furnace at 1700 degrees for one hour. The inside temperature cannot exceed 350 degrees, or the safe fails the test. While the safe is heated, it is dropped to simulate a second floor collapsing, the safe cannot burst open, or it fails. The average house fire is 1200 degrees, and paper chars at approximately 450 degrees. Some safes will have a 2 hour 350 degree U.L. fire rating, this means the safe passed the same test, with the time being 2 hours instead of 1 hour. If you wish to store computer disks, picture negatives, tapes, etc... in your safe you will need a safe with a special fire rating. The most common is the U.L. 125 degree 1 hour fire rating. This means the inside temperature did not exceed 125 degrees, also, did not exceed 80% relative humidity during the same test mentioned above.
Look for a label or tag on the safe like the one pictured above
Manufacturers Ratings
Some manufacturers conduct there own fire tests. These are usually done along the same guidelines as the U.L. tests

royalbrett

The best solution is just not own any expensive cards. Then nobody will want them. Peace of Mind.

SidePocket

A decoy safe is a great idea. A small one, keep it locked with garbage in it, placed on the closet floor where you can't miss it. Nice and portable and it very well could serve its purpose.

swish54

We decided to get one mainly for fires/natural disaster. While getting one for burglaries is nice, if a burglar really wants to get at your safe, they'll eventually get to it. It might just slow them down a bit instead of just walking into a man cave and grabbing stuff off a shelf. Like someone else mentioned, I would try to find a conspicuous place to hide it, again, to make a burglar at least work at finding it.

Griffins

A lot of safe companies offer dehumidifier units, that keeps everything dry.
Liberty makes a good safe for a very reasonable price. Agree that fire is the biggest worry.
We get a fair amount of fires in So Cal, and whenever they interview the homeowners the first thing they lament is the loss of pictures and videos. Cards can be replaced, pictures can't. My cards are in a SD box at the bank (which, by the way, aren't insured. Look at the losses from SD box users in Louisiana). Images, videos, the really valuable irreplaceable stuff, goes in the safe. Along with back up drives at my parents.

bobbyw8469

Great ideas everyone!!

jwilson6204

Don't forget to turn off geo tagging if you post a picture of your cards. I'm not a tech guy, but I've been told people can use it to determine where you live and hence where you store your cards, valuables, etc. There are also many threads that have already been posted regarding purchasing insurance for your collectibles as your home owner's insurance may only cover a small portion of your collection. People generally don't like the idea of a safe deposit box at the bank because they are unable to view all of their cards. One way to sort of get around this is to keep around 75% of your cards at the bank while the other 25% rotate and get to go on "vacation" at your house for viewing.

psychump

NO! They are safer on eBay!

stormtrooper80

<< <i>My girlfriend got me a safe for Xmas. Nice heavy duty one. I am ready things that say you have to be careful what you store in it. Do you think PSA graded cards would be ok? >>



You're a lucky guy, my friend!! All my girlfriend got me for Xmas was an off-center Topps Ryan RC with one white edge.

As far as your question about safes and PSA cards; let's see what THIS GUY thinks!!!

bobbyw8469

GO AWAY TROLL!

WhiteTornado

<< <i>Don't forget to turn off geo tagging if you post a picture of your cards. I'm not a tech guy, but I've been told people can use it to determine where you live and hence where you store your cards, valuables, etc. There are also many threads that have already been posted regarding purchasing insurance for your collectibles as your home owner's insurance may only cover a small portion of your collection. People generally don't like the idea of a safe deposit box at the bank because they are unable to view all of their cards. One way to sort of get around this is to keep around 75% of your cards at the bank while the other 25% rotate and get to go on "vacation" at your house for viewing. >>



Great point about turning off geo tagging. I started doing that quite a while back after reading a post here on CU. Someone on the US Coin Forum posted a pic of his pile of coins and precious metals he keeps in a safe deposit box. He took the pic in a "viewing room" at his bank. Then someone PM-ed him and provided the name and address of the bank, which they were able to get through geo tags on the picture! They told him about it publicly (that they PM-ed him), as a way to warn everyone about the issues with geo tags.