I’ve seen plenty of posts on it both here and a few other forums but seems to be quite a bit of contradictory advice.
First off – Is it worth storing a high value collection in a safe? If so, any safe recommendations?
Things I’ve read that make me nervous: Internal temps in safe can get extremely high (250+ F), humidity inside the safe will destroy your entire collection (does dehumidifier in there completely eliminate this risk?), etc.
What are other options or things I need to be considering when safely storing a collection?
I have a small safe with high quality, oven-rechargeable desiccants for moisture. I’ve never thought to do anymore than this until recently as my collection grows in value I’ve considered two options:
Yea PWCC not ideal because I’d like to be able to have them nearby, ship when needed if selling, look at and generally enjoy. I know the dilemma though
Also — I realized I posted this in the wrong section. Can a mod move please?
To those looking to use safety deposit boxes, just be aware that the bank bears no liability for any items that are lost/stolen/damaged from your box. It is your responsibility to insure the contents of your box which is typically done through additional coverage in your homeowners policy or an entirely separate policy altogether. Disclaimer: This is how it works in Canada, but I’d expect it to be similar in the U.S.
I use pwcc vault for any cards high enough value that I don’t feel comfortable having them in my house. They specialize in collectables and subsequent insurance which is why I prefer them over a standard bank vault. The only downside like you said is you can’t view them except for the scans they provide and it’s pretty inconvenient if you want to sell anything being stored there to someone else.
How do you ascertain that the safe deposit box is in a non-humid environment? Thought about using a bank safe deposit box as well, but wanted your view / experience on it
At first I liked at-home safes for cards, mainly for fire & flood protection.
However they are an easy target for burglars unless they are massive, as the burglars will take the entire safe with them and crack open later.
I considered a drill-down into the floor safe. But it is a huge pain in the ass especially if you are not on the ground floor or are renting instead of own.
I currently have some safes and have a drying cabinet which maintains humidity during seasonal changes and has a very basic lock (pretty much to discourage rather than effectively lock, but good if you have kids with curious friends).
I also hide some of my cards in water-resistant small containers and keep some at PWCC vault. I prefer the vault to a local bank.
If you have ever watched the TV series “The Honourable Woman”, the protagonist has a panic room which I have always wanted. My dream is a basement that doubles as a bomb shelter and pokemon vault.
I don’t think a burglar would know Pokémon cards are valuable enough to be worth stealing. By putting them in a safe you are saying, “look at me, I’m valuable!”
Insurance is smart though if you have a high value collection.
I agree a typical burglar is going to come in looking for jewelry, small electronics (phones, tablets), etc. However, if the thief is someone who knows you personally (maybe they know you’ve been collecting for years and just saw someone they follow online spend $200k on a box of Pokemon cards and had the realization that they might be valuable) it is conceivable someone could break in specifically looking for your cards.
I think insurance is wise as is a home alarm system for when you’re not home if you’re storing high value stuff. I try to physically store things in different locations within my home, and not in plain sight, as well as in other locations (parents home, in-laws home, safety deposit box, etc) so that no one location has everything. Even if one of these locations was hit, it would be time consuming to find everything and even then the possible loss is limited to a portion of the collection.
My safe is close to 1000lbs loaded
Even if it’s not bolted to the ground, which it is, no one is taking it out of the house in any timely matter. Not before security system has cops or myself at the house.
I don’t use the other services, but then again my most expensive card maybe 1k.
If I had $10k cards, the other options begin to look more interesting.
I think insurance is the best bet if you like to actually look at your collection. Would suck to have to go to the bank, during business hours, any time I wanted to look through it.
@sgbased in my opinion (or at least the banks I’ve used) there hasn’t been a high humidity problem. People are always there, so the building is constantly and consistently climate controlled. I will check on my cards every couple months, and swap out desiccant packets just for added peace of mind but over the past year or so I’ve had 0 issues or need for concern.
As far as fire resistance I’d personally be more concerned about water from fire fighters putting a fire out damaging cards more so than the heat itself. I’ve talked to a couple friends who are fire fighters and that was their general concern (according to google the average house fire requires 3000 gallons to extinguish). You’ll have that risk with pretty much any storage solution though, so I personally mitigate the risk by using multiple locations to store my cards.
More often than not thieves will just use a cordless angle grinder with a cut off wheel and enter a safe via the side or top. It’s kind of shocking how fast this can be done.