What if you were robbed?

Horrible to think about, isn't it? You've worked hard to build your collection and it may represent a significant financial investment also. But some low-life thief has taken it from you. What now?

Of course you contact the police and your insurance company. Unless you had the foresight to specifically insure your coins, most home insurance will only cover a few hundred dollars and the police are often hampered by the fact that coins, even somewhat rare coins, are not easy to identify individually. If you had an 1878 Morgan dollar stolen and a pawn shop bought one the next day, who is to say they bought yours?

Of course if the coins are certified and you have kept receipts, that might be different.

That's a very specific item - that "28338135" uniquely identifies this silver dollar and distinguishes it from all others.  If you gave the police a list of items like this, they'd have a much easier time identifying your coins should they turn up at a local pawn or coin shop.

Your state and town may have strict requirements for that coin or pawn shop. For example, the coin shop near me has to report those purchases daily with photographs. There is usually at least some holding period before items can be resold, giving crime fighters some time to investigate.

Having photographs in addition to lists can be very helpful. Most coin and pawn shops are honest - they don't want to buy stolen goods to start with and would be happy to help police recover from the thieves. If an important coin has been stolen, a picture not only helps identify the coin, but also tends to stick in people's memory more. If I told you to watch out for PCGS 916.50/28891277 or showed you this picture, which do you think you'd remember better?

In addition to your local police, you can and should report to the Numismatic Crime Information Center.  They alert local, state, federal and even international law enforcement agencies as well as the numismatic industry in general. They also offer specialized services to assist law enforcement.

Prevention is the best protection. Ideally, rare coins should be kept in a bank safe deposit box. Next base would be a burglary rated safe, but most home safes can only withstand a determined thief for a few minutes at least.  Safes you see at places like BJ's or Costco are usually only fire rated - they can be popped open in literally seconds.

By the way, ANA members can get discount insurance coverage.  You can insure up to $10,000 of coins kept in a safe deposit box for around $50 a year.

Don't forget to put desiccant in your safe and SDB and to check it and bake it when it needs regeneration.  I found tins of "Orange indicating" on eBay and Amazon -  I have one in each SDB, and two in the larger safe. 

Clue for the second 2014 Silver Eagle Giveaway:  Copying Haseltine.

Note:  All my coins are in a safe deposit box.  I keep nothing in my home. 

Contests and giveaways: http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html

Moisture and your coins

Years back, I never gave moisture a second thought. I should have - my safe was located in our basement and that basement certainly got musty, but I never thought about the contents of the safe. I guess I was lucky - I remember some wheat cents corroding, but it wasn't even that many of those and nothing else was harmed.

Still, I read that dire consequences can befall your coins if you don't prevent high humidity. That worried me, so I started investigating.

My first concern was my safe deposit boxes. That's where everything really valuable is and it's also where I have the least control over conditions. The vault is on the same floor as the teller area and is air conditioned, so I feel that's probably fairly safe, but people do recommend desiccant.

My home safe, which only has papers and low value coins, also needs desiccant.  There is more need here than at the bank, because we almost never run air conditioning. We have central air, but neither my wife nor I like it, so it takes really brutal conditions to get us to turn it on. Therefore, the safe definitely needs protection.

But what to get?  The most common form of desiccant is that "blue indicating" silica gel and apparently there are some health concerns with that:

Cobalt Chloride has been classified by IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) in Group 2B. Which states Cobalt Chloride is possibly carcinogenic to humans. Very toxic to aquatic organisms. May cause long term adverse effects in the environment.

I found an "orange indicating" silica gel at Amazon:

Is that safer? I don't know, but I ordered one.

But will that be enough?  I found this "Use Silica Gel and Desiccants for Maximum Results"  which says I'd need about 60 grams for the safe.  The box I ordered is 40 grams, so I guess I'll need another or will need to regenerate it more often.   I think I'll just try the one first and see how often it needs to be baked.

That article also points out that regenerating requires many hours in an oven.  That could be inconvenient, especially in the summer.  Inexpensive as it is, buying these to throw away without regenerating seems very wasteful and offensive, but I might just buy a few more and save regeneration for the winter months.

Note:  All my coins are in a safe deposit box.  I keep nothing in my home. 

Contests and giveaways: http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html

BF716 Security Safe Review

I bought this Amsec BF716 safe.

In some respects, this is overkill.  I'm not storing highly valuable items in it.  It's for birth certificates, our wills and some other important papers, some low value coins that would be annoying but not sickening to lose and perhaps for short term storage of better coins before I transfer them to the safe deposit box at the bank.

In other respects, this might be seen as a weak defense. It's fireproof rating is decent but as a burglar proof container, it's bare minimum.  

First, it's only 412 lbs empty. One man with a hand truck can trundle that out of here.  The stairs will pose a little challenge, but a thief wouldn't mind just letting it crash down, so not so much.  But really, this is true for any safe: if people can bring it into your house, people can bring it out.

This safe does have a bottom bolt down hole.  If you could set that into concrete, it might make extraction a bit more difficult, but if it just bolts through your floor, that would barely slow anyone down.

Finally, it's only rated RSC - Residential Security Container.  That means it can survive a five minute attack by a single person armed with nothing more than a heavy duty screwdriver, a hammer,  some muscles and endurance.

Still, given my modest needs and modest budget, this seemed like enough to me. I really couldn't fit anything larger and heavier and spending on heavier steel doesn't necessarily gain you much: the next level up provides fifteen minutes of protection. That's not much, is it?

So, let's take a look.  Specs first:

Price? You can find the BF1716 on-line with in-home delivery for $1,700 or so.

So, what else?

I bought the electronic lock because my wife has difficulties with her hands.  It takes two batteries, accessible from outside.

That bothers me a little - presumably someone with a strong computer background could futz that circuit board?

The lock has useful features.  Let's say that the code was 123456#

You can punch 12345 and 98754317890 and then 6# and it will open. The idea is that it stores 5 numbers and then waits for the last before # so you can fool someone watching.

Get the combo wrong three times and it won't take any combo for the next fifteen minutes (time for the hammer?).

I had to leave it open all day because it was ice cold when it got here and would have been soaking wet inside had I closed it up.

They warn you to open it frequently to avoid condensation.

Now, what will it hold?  I happen to have 9 PCGS Box-O-Twenty holders.  I originally thought those might fit in my safe deposit box, but they won't, but by using those I can demonstrate that you could fit 28 with room left over.  The safe is also big enough to hold typical 8-1/2 x 11 inch binders if that's how you roll.

An adjustable shelf is included:

See http://www.amsecusa.com/fire-safes/bf-safes/ for more information.

Don't forget to put desiccant in your safe and SDB and to check it and bake it when it needs regeneration.  I found tins of "Orange indicating" on eBay and Amazon -  I have one in each SDB, and two in the larger safe.  

Note:  All my coins in a safe deposit box.  I keep nothing in my home. 

This week's Coinweek Giveaway:  http://www.coinweek.com/~cd53550787d934d

Also multiple contests going on at http://www.moderncoinmart.com/forum/forums/contests/