Coin Security

lunytune2 · January 28, 2015 1:23AM

I am looking into purchasing a new safe ...is there any disadvantages to a digital keypad ? I always hated combination locks.

ricko · January 28, 2015 1:52AM

Be sure there is a low battery indicator and an alternate method of entry.... i.e. key or dial combination....digital electronics can fail. Cheers, RickO

GeorgeKellogg · January 28, 2015 1:55AM

Digital keypads are easy to use but are notoriously unreliable. They can quit working without notice (like any other electronic item) and you're dead in the water. One safe manufacturer of which I'm aware quit using digital keypads, due to the repair issues.

steveben · January 28, 2015 1:57AM

my father in law knows a lot about safes...he is a gun collector. anyway, he tells me all the time never buy one with digital keypad. he says they are easily cracked. i don't know the particulars, but he's pretty adamant about it.

telephoto1 · January 28, 2015 2:05AM

Digital keypads are like padlocks...all they will do is keep an honest man honest. Crooks usually have no problem with them, and as stated earlier, they are prone to failure.
My advice is to get a traditional dial combo safe. Perhaps something along the lines of a Liberty safe or similar quality gun/collectibles safe for home use.

lunytune2 · January 28, 2015 3:02AM

Thanks , I kind of thought they may not be as secure as the combination safe . I guess I will stick with the comination safe then

ScarsdaleCoin · January 28, 2015 3:08AM

I still like the dial...but for you techies...

BIOMETRIC FINGERPRINT READING LOCK

This luxury lock offers the ultimate in security and ease of use.

No compromising combinations to remember, simply touch and open.

The fingerprint lock comes embedded in a highly ruggedized casing with matching handle. The biometric safe lock housing components are custom machined from solid aerospace grade aluminum exclusively for Brown Safe. This industrial-grade casing provides increased outer lock protection while the top-nested ergonomic position of the biometric fingerprint reader allows for effortless access to your jewelry safe.

Timbuk3 · January 28, 2015 4:22AM

I prefer a SDB !!!

LindeDad · January 28, 2015 4:28AM

<< I prefer a SDB !!!

>>

Any safe can and will be opened if your loved ones are at gun point. A safe in the house makes the house a target.

MrHalfDime · January 28, 2015 4:35AM

Several people have offered some very good advice here, and you would be well served to heed that advice. However, one point that is often missed when considering a home safe is that any safe, no matter what it is, will protect your belongings only when you are not at home. This may seem odd, until you consider what will happen in the middle of the night when a would-be thief holds a gun to your head, or to your wife's head, or worse yet, to the head of one of your children, and asks you to open the safe. Under those conditions no safe will protect your belongings; you will open that safe and surrender all of its contents to protect the life of your family. Perhaps Timbuk3 had the best advice. Get a safe deposit box.

JJSingleton · January 28, 2015 4:40AM

<< 

<< I prefer a SDB !!!

>>

Any safe can and will be opened if your loved ones are at gun point. A safe in the house makes the house a target. >>

And even worse if your loved one does not know the combination.

Unless everyone in your house is armed 24/7 get a safe deposit box.

jdimmick · January 28, 2015 4:43AM

Any safe can and will be opened if your loved ones are at gun point. A safe in the house makes the house a target.

This above statement was my biggest fear: I keep the good stuff in a sdb.

Only think I keep at home in a secure safe is ebay stuff and stuff in process which is usually no more than a few thousand if that much.

if I had to open it at gunpoint, I wouldn't loose much

jim

TopographicOceans · January 28, 2015 4:49AM

The big problem with a safe is that it only works once.

Say a burglar breaks into your house when you're away and takes some belongings - and finds the safe but can't open it.

Now a felon thief knows there is a safe in your house. He and his buddies can come back anytime with guns when you're home and force you to open the safe.

MGLICKER · January 28, 2015 5:01AM

<< my father in law knows a lot about safes...he is a gun collector. anyway, he tells me all the time never buy one with digital keypad. he says they are easily cracked. i don't know the particulars, but he's pretty adamant about it. >>

Sounds good to me. Safes seem like a great option when no one is home. An added danger when the home is occupied.

SethChandler · January 28, 2015 5:03AM

For a collector, Safe Deposit Box is the way to go. If yo are going the safe route, Ive heard the circle combination locks were better.

Also, since the topic are safes....I am curious...

Does anyone have info as to how much insurance companies will insure as to the required safe rating?

example : to insure for 50k, you need an X rated safe, 250k is a y rated safe, etc.

Anything?

johnny9434 · January 28, 2015 5:10AM

<< I prefer a SDB !!!

>>

that works for me.

NewEnglandNotes · January 28, 2015 5:44AM

<< BIOMETRIC FINGERPRINT READING LOCK This luxury lock offers the ultimate in security and ease of use.

No compromising combinations to remember, simply touch and open.
>>

When we were issued iPhones for work last year, they came with a fingerprint reader to unlock the phone. It's great until your hands are wet, or in the winter when your fingers get cracked from the cold. Then it's useless.

JCMhouston · January 28, 2015 6:16AM

Safes are good things, in spite of what you might have read above. They keep the casual burglars away from your good stuff, and generally can be bought with flame resistance for 1200 F for 30 minutes. No, there is no downside to an electronic lock, all good quality safes will come with a set of backup keys if the unit fails. Two of mine (installed for over 5 years each) have keypads, and I've never had any sort of failure, just change the batteries every couple of years.

NO home type safe will protect your stuff from real professionals, they will be into any lightweight safe in just a few minutes. Most insurance companies require a safe to weigh a minimum of either 350 or 450 pounds to count as a home safe, so the little Sentry things at Home Depot won't count. A decent quality home type safe can be had for $700-$1000. A professional level safe starts at $3k and go up rapidly, but I generally consider them overkill for a home.

If a burglar can get into your home and hold your family at gunpoint you have much bigger problems than a safe. A safe is only one part of a home security system, for example, a home security system, which you actually turn on and use. Our's is on all the time, when we are at home it's in Home mode and doesn't turn on the thermal and motion detectors, when we leave it goes into Away mode and everything is turned on. And it's a cellular system so they can cut the phone line and it doesn't care, and they can even cut power to my house and the backup generator runs everything. We also have emergency buttons in several different rooms, these are useful both for the security aspect and for us elderly people when we fall and can't get back up. You should also have good deadbolts on your doors, that extend into the frame and slow down would be invaders.

And then there is the matter of self defense. I know a lot of people don't want to take responsibility for that so I'll just say we have a simple plan for home invasions. Put the wife behind me and shoot everything in front of me.

ms70 · January 28, 2015 7:03AM

I have a safe with an S&G spinning combination lock from 1986 that I've opened thousands of times & it's still perfect. In the unlikely event of an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) it will still
open but an electronic will most likely be rendered useless.

planetsteve · January 30, 2015 11:37AM

I have a Sentry keypad safe that has sat unopened for something like six years... And the electronic mechanism failed! Some part - perhaps a solenoid? - has stopped responding and so it cannot be opened. (The keys are only an added layer of protection. The safe will not open, even with them.). Sentry's advice is to tap the outside of the door with a mallet.

Just to be clear, never buy Sentry. Waste of money.

roadrunner · January 30, 2015 11:55AM

Depending on where you buy the safe, there could be a line of people who know you just bought it.....all of which could pass the word along to someone else.

shorecoll · January 30, 2015 12:15PM

If you buy one with a fingerprint sensor make sure it's one that requires that the finger is attached to a live person when used.

MsMorrisine · January 30, 2015 12:37PM

Aluminum?

If you can't hammer it off, you can burn it off.

TopographicOceans · January 30, 2015 1:03PM

There are a number of layers of security to have in place before relying on a safe.

The value of coins I keep around the house are worth less than my refrigerator and TV's which are most expensive items at home, and I keep the vast majority of my coins in the banks safe deposit boxes.

But a home safe is also good protection from a fire so you want to make sure you have a good fire rating.

And for a worse case scenario you should have additional insurance for your collection. A standard homeowners policy will replace a rare nickel with another nickel.
The ANA provides coin insurance through Hugh Woods. My premiums are 55c per $1000 annually.

Coin Security

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