Security advice needed please

[smokestack]

Hi everyone, although i have not yet made my first silver purchase(six hours to go till i do) i am already thinking about the time when i will have quite a lot of money stored up in PM . Can anyone give me some advice regarding safes and generally keeping my future stack from falling into the hands of intruders should i ever be so unlucky as to be broken into. I do like the idea of a decoy cheap safe containing a few silver and gold plated decoy coins and maybe some cheapo jewellery to fool them into thinking they had hit the jackpot. But i would probably like to invest in a more expensive safe for the real stuff.

[ChrisSilver]

Best to just put some sacrificial PM's and some cash in the decoy safe, opposed to plated stuff.

 

If a burglar gets plated stuff he will realise you have another safe somewhere with real PM and might come back looking for it. Also by buying plated stuff you are supporting a very bad industry, an industry that mainly profits from scamming investors out of their money.

 

As discussed in another thread, floor safes are a good option. But not so easy to install yourself.

I like a firesafe but they are expensive for good cash rated ones, and internal dimensions are small. I think a chance of a fire is greater than a chance of a break in (though this obviously depends on your location and type of property etc)

[HighlandTiger]

I think you'll find that amongst the people here, we have everything from hiding it under the bed, to keeping it in security vaults in various places around the world.

 

I do have a secure storage location at the moment. But should I move in the future, I will be investing in a decent sized floor safe, as I have described in other threads. 

[HighlandTiger]

 

As discussed in another thread, floor safes are a good option. But not so easy to install yourself.

 

I'm going to have to disagree with you a little bit Chris. Having watched dozens of floor safes being installed. (always had to be on site when installing safes for security reasons), and helped out on a couple of them, I can honestly say, if you can dig a hole and are able to hire a cement mixer, you can easily do it yourself. Or if you've got a good builder you can trust he can do it in a few hours. It all depends on what is below your floorboards. Older building often have loose rubble dirt in between the foundations. The newer one sometimes have a cement base which is a bit trickier.to dig through.

 

And no, if you live in an upstairs  flat, whatever you do, don't try and fit a floor safe.......................   

[smokestack]

I apologize i had not realized that plated coins and bars were dodgy if sold as plated coins and bars, but i see what you mean about they might come back when they realize what has happened, as you say better to sacrifice a small amount and maybe some cash so thay think they have it. I would be prepared to spend a bit on a good safe though. Anyway thanks for the great advice so far.

[silversword]

These are just my opinions, but to start with, the best advice I can give is to follow the old adage of: "walls have ears" and the wartime motto "loose lips sink ships" - tell nobody about your stack. Nobody. Mates, family, or anyone else. Also do not mention your safe to them either. If anyone already knows, like a wife or partner, then they must be sworn to secrecy. If you like a drink, be careful not to boast or even discuss pm investment, or that you have anything stored, whilst drunk.

On safes; like anything you get what you pay for. Check out the specialist safe dealers online to find what's availabile. Your safe needs to be good quality and should ideally not be obvious to anyone who visits your house; hide it. Protect the safeas well; it should be bolted to the wall and floor, with preferably no access for a thief to attack the top, sides, or rear. Don't bolt it to something like a wooden or plaster wall, as these can be cut and the safe carted off.

If you must have metals at home, remember every ingenious hiding place mentioned on the internet is effectively a method that thieves now know about too, so be inventive and use multiple hiding places if you can.

[HelpingHands]

The best security advice I can think of is: Don't tell anyone that you have PMs.

It might sound like a good idea to convert people but they still probably won't buy even when they know about all the banking malarkey.

You never know who they'll mention it too. Worst case scenario you find yourself at gun point in your own home with people shouting 'where's the silver!'

[garthy]

Like others have said tell no one, if you ever buy from ebay buy from someone with a lot of PM sales, you never know it may be someones ploy to get your address by selling you gold or silver, depending how much you have always have a stash separate to your main stash, if the worst happens and someone demands your metals you can always sacrifice a smaller stash over your main one.

As far as safes go I'm not a great fan, if someone finds it they may be back another time when you're home, I'd rather be inventive and hide it somewhere no one will even think of, use your imagination, there are so many places around your home and elsewhere, you can build dummy walls, install dummy pipes, build hidden compartments inside draws, lift floorboard, the possibilities are endless.

The chances are nothing will ever happen but it's nice to know your savings are safe and secure.

[Agpanda]

And no, if you live in an upstairs  flat, whatever you do, don't try and fit a floor safe.......................   

Best advice i had this year, thank god i got it b4 i started to drill  

 

I rely love this forum, always make feel good.

[Shamatti]

Having a safe at home invites trouble, and could even put you or your family at risk. Unless it is so well hidden then it can't be found. It would not be hard for a determined modern criminal to find your address and hold you to ransom until the safe was opened for him. Also, they are generally easy to break in to unless you spend a considerable sum of money.

 

Also, this

 

Gold and silver bullion worth $200K stolen from war veteran's home

 

There was approx 75KG of silver stolen too!!!!!

 

This is his safe:

 

 

No. All my silver is going to be held in a secure off site location which I will not mention here in public! lol

[silversword]

That is not a safe; that is a thin metal box with delusions of grandeur. Why in the name of sweet baby Jesus would anyone entrust $200k worth of bullion to what looks like a $100 piece of crap from a DIY store. 

 

I can only imagine how devastated that guy was; it's a sad story, but it reinforces the points already hinted at in this thread: Tell nobody about your metals, or your safe. If you must get a safe, get a bloody good one and keep it very well hidden and difficult to access. If you have that much gold, probably best to not keep all your stash in one location. 

[Shamatti]

That is not a safe; that is a thin metal box with delusions of grandeur. Why in the name of sweet baby Jesus would anyone entrust $200k worth of bullion to what looks like a $100 piece of crap from a DIY store. 

 

I can only imagine how devastated that guy was; it's a sad story, but it reinforces the points already hinted at in this thread: Tell nobody about your metals, or your safe. If you must get a safe, get a bloody good one and keep it very well hidden and difficult to access. If you have that much gold, probably best to not keep all your stash in one location. 

 

 

Indeed. The sad thing about this story is that it was taken from his home on new years eve. Had had already made arrangements to move the stack to a secure vault only 3 or 4 days later! I guess he - like other here I am sure - started out with a cheap safe "which will do for now" and then didn't get around to replacing it as his stack grew. Very sad.

[Iceblue]

Bury it. Get an airtight container and dig a hole.

Get a box at a vault or bank.

If you buy a safe it has to be mega sized and extra thick.

CCTV is also a handy back up.

Big nasty dogs are also helpful.

[ChrisSilver]

A small stack is safe to keep at home, but when and if it gets to a considerable size then I would consider using a safe deposit box (only for gold, silver is too expensive to store like this).

Though this could just as easily get broken into (by the police) as they have raided safe deposit box locations in the UK before and if your box happens to get opened and the contents nabbed by the police then you might have a hard time getting it back as you will have to prove to them that your just an honest working guy and you paid for everything and not a super criminal.

Problem with burying is that it's no so accessible.

[Cornishfarmer]

Do silver to go ever have greater stock? They have the standard coins will they have 2015 lunars when they arrive

[ChrisSilver]

Do silver to go ever have greater stock? They have the standard coins will they have 2015 lunars when they arrive

That's a bit off topic. Try starting a new topic or send Livia a private message to ask. You can find her under member name STG

[Cornishfarmer]

Sorry thought was in 'first coin purchase'

[ChrisSilver]

Sorry thought was in 'first coin purchase'

No problem. I just don't like to see topics go too off topic as it's much better to create a new topic so that people searching in the future can find relevant information to their query

[smokestack]

Does anyone have any experience of the small safe that is sold by the gold bullion company for £200, form the picture it looks quite a sturdy thing. i know it is small but my thinking is that at that price you could buy more than one and place them in different places, thus splitting up your stack, i agree with Chris although very sad, the safe in the picture is just glorified tin box.

[silversword]

Does anyone have any experience of the small safe that is sold by the gold bullion company for £200, form the picture it looks quite a sturdy thing. i know it is small but my thinking is that at that price you could buy more than one and place them in different places, thus splitting up your stack, i agree with Chris although very sad, the safe in the picture is just glorified tin box.

 

It's a Phoenix Fortress 1181K, and it's one of the smallest in the range. It's not a terrrible piece of kit but if you search for Phoenix safes online you'll find it's bigger brothers like the Citadel 1192 come with more internal space and full AIS certification which means that the valuables/cash rating has been certified by the Association of Insurance Surveyors, rather than just assessed by the maker. 

 

It will be better than the one in the photo above but at this size it must be well hidden and securely bolted down (these ones only have floor fixings) because its light enough to carry off.

 

Not sure I would buy my safe from the same people I bought bullion from either, but then I'm paranoid.

[ChrisSilver]

Dr Dime, I've deleted your posts. I presume your keyboard doesn't work properly because it was all gibberish.

[DrDime]

Thanks, sorry I fell asleep reading this thread so must have leaned on the ipad :-/

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[DrDime]

Not saying the thread is boring .... Just sunbathing

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[Danny-boy]

sorry I fell asleep reading this thread so must have leaned on the ipad :-/

Lol.

[Cointreau]

http://www.safelincs.co.uk/phoenix-1181-security-safe/?fGB=true&gclid=CK6V_u7Og78CFQrpwgod8CMAOA

 

Not a bad safe for the money. However it will not stop a determined thief with the right equipment such as a power saw. Bear that in mind.

 

 

Still wanna buy that safe?