What private safe do you use for gold/silver storage?

[nikao]

Just wondering which models are considered to be good. I know a lot of people own only 'paper gold' or store in a safe deposit box at the bank, but I'd like to store at least a part of the coins at home as well.
Read a lot about different safes and the fact they are easily broken into (within minutes!), while other models for the same price seemed to do the trick just fine.

[drumminj]

I did a lot of research a while back when looking for a decent gun safe and settled on an AmSec BF, as it provides both burglary + fire protection.

[dualstow]

I did a lot of research a while back when looking for a decent gun safe and settled on an AmSec BF, as it provides both burglary + fire protection.

A google image search of the bolded words turned up this tornado-surviving safe. Cool:
http://www.amsecusa.com/amsec-bf-gun-sa ... a-tornado/

[drumminj]

Wow. Now I know where to 'shelter' if there's a tornado.  I just need to figure out how to open it from the inside!

[Fred]

I keep all my gold in a safety deposit box at the bank (to store it outside the banking system as recommended here) but if I were to store it in my house I wouldn't put it in a safe. If you do, you might as well write on it in bold letters - "Here's the gold". If I wanted to store gold in my house I think there is no lack of clever places to hide it that a thief would never think of. And I think having a fake safe to distract the thief would also be a good strategy.

[drumminj]

I keep all my gold in a safety deposit box at the bank (to store it outside the banking system as recommended here)

How is storing gold in a safe deposit box at a bank keeping it outside the banking system?  What am I missing here?

[ochotona]

I have a Hayman Safe.

http://www.haymansafe.com/pages/cv_gp

[Cortopassi]

Lost all my gold in a boating accident...

[dualstow]

If I wanted to store gold in my house I think there is no lack of clever places to hide it that a thief would never think of.

You'd be surprised.

[Fred]

I keep all my gold in a safety deposit box at the bank (to store it outside the banking system as recommended here)

How is storing gold in a safe deposit box at a bank keeping it outside the banking system?  What am I missing here?

My sarcasm

[Fred]

If I wanted to store gold in my house I think there is no lack of clever places to hide it that a thief would never think of.

You'd be surprised.

How so?

[drumminj]

How is storing gold in a safe deposit box at a bank keeping it outside the banking system?  What am I missing here?

My sarcasm

My bad -- didn't see the invisible smiley!

[ochotona]

Do you think backyard burial is a viable alternative, if you do a good job of concealing the vessel under a paving stone and making sure the vegetation grows back in properly?

[Mark Leavy]

Do you think backyard burial is a viable alternative, if you do a good job of concealing the vessel under a paving stone and making sure the vegetation grows back in properly?

Invite your local retired guy with a metal detector to come over and see what he can find...

[ochotona]

Of course metal detectors could find it. But would thieves know to do that?

[stuper1]

If I stored gold at home (which I don't), backyard burial would be my preferred option.  Put the gold in a sealed PVC tube about 4 to 5 feet down, and put a piece of scrap metal a couple feet above it.  That way, if someone with a metal detector is around, hopefully they will stop when they find the scrap metal.  In all honesty, I don't see why anyone would be in my backyard with a metal detector anyway.  The scrap metal would also help you to find the gold in the future, in case you lost track of where you buried it.

Backyard burial solves the problems of fire and of thieves opening your safe inside the house or convincing you to open it by cutting off your fingers one at a time.

The only problem I see with backyard burial is that your heirs may lose track of the stash if you die.  Be sure to leave a treasure map with your will.

[nikao]

Lol... somehow it feels strange to talk in all seriousness of 'burying a treasure' in your backyard

[stuper1]

I think people not much older than ourselves would say it feels strange to talk in all seriousness of having all of your money stored as a bunch of ones and zeros on some electronic machine thousands of miles away from you in an unknown location.

[dualstow]

I think people not much older than ourselves would say it feels strange to talk in all seriousness of having all of your money stored as a bunch of ones and zeros on some electronic machine thousands of miles away from you in an unknown location.

ha!  And as bizarre as it sounds when you deconstruct it, wealth stored as ink on a cotton-linen blend of paper feels so comfy, doesn't it?

[ochotona]

Paper money can always double as toilet paper!

[I Shrugged]

We recently had to clean out the house of a decease relative whom we knew was into precious metals.  Specifically we knew there was a bag of silver coins somewhere.  We looked for a couple of days before we found it hidden in plain sight.  Later we found a note which had been prepared for anyone cleaning up in case of death.  It told where the bag was, more or less.

My wife and I started thinking about how easy it would be to lose track of a hiding place, or your kids to lose track of it, for you to simply forget over time, etc.  When you start thinking of what you have to do to safeguard, remember, and pass along the hiding place, it's not as clean as you'd hope.  Finding good hiding places is not the hard part.  Especially not if they are semi-permanent and they take advantage of the construction or mechanicals in the house.  ie Not hidden in a hollowed out book etc.  The FBI might deconstruct your house if they are looking for something hidden.  A thief is not going to do that.  Unless you've blabbed about your stash.  Or your kids have. 

[Mark Leavy]

I was thinking of having a treasure map tattooed onto my skull. But then I realized that I am slowly balding. Maybe UV ink?

[Mark Leavy]

A thief is not going to do that.  Unless you've blabbed about your stash.  Or your kids have. 

You have to assume that you have inadvertently blabbed about your stash at some point. You are in denial otherwise.  Even the fact that you were posting on this forum is high probability.

Think about how you will store your gold assuming that someone knows that you own gold.

[Mark Leavy]

And it's really not that complicated. Medium Tex's suggestion to just pick a safe deposit box in a small town is probably ideal.

I have it easier than most, as I travel continuously. It is easy for me to have deposits spread across the world in a varity of scenarios and no one ever really knowing where I am.

[I Shrugged]

They'll come up empty if they ransack my house.  I just haven't got my head around stashing coins here and there.  I do think a discreetly-placed safe is a good idea.  Who knows.