Advice on safety deposit boxes

[Dwaine]

As I am weeding out my collection some and trying to decide what to keep I now want to put these somewhere safer than a safe in my house. Any advice on safety deposit boxes at banks and how coins should be stored in one.

 

I will be storing Graded, bags, rolls, and album's there.

[MunkyMan95]

Vacuum pack everything or put them in airtight containers with lots of desiccant or some other item to remove moisture. Humidity is purposely kept high in many vaults to aid in the preservation of old documents, so it's not the best thing for coins.

[World Colonial]

As I am weeding out my collection some and trying to decide what to keep I now want to put these somewhere safer than a safe in my house. Any advice on safety deposit boxes at banks and how coins should be stored in one.

 

I will be storing Graded, bags, rolls, and album's there.

 

I have two safe deposit boxes (in two different cities) and both are the 5X10. I have about 250 NGC/PCGS slabs , several 2X2 boxes and a few hundred loose items. The slabs really take up a lot of space and when my collection gets bigger, I probably will remove the least valuable and replaceable items, store them at home and cover them with my ANA policy. You might consider removing the albums. Seems like it would take a lot of space.

[jesbroken]

world colonial,

What do you mean, "Your ANA policy." Do you mean an insurance policy on coins?

Jim

[Dwaine]

Is silica gel better than desiccant?

 

Should I buy some type of box to put inside the safety deposit box?

 

I don't have many albums at this time to put in there but as I complete some I may add them.

 

[EZ_E]

Dwaine, our lives are pretty much paralleling each other now. I'm also thinning down my collection to the nitty-gritty and I just opened a safe deposit box for the first time last week in Las Vegas. My credit union is all over town but only one branch actually contained safe deposit boxes. There is a $75 key deposit in case you loose yours, they'll have to use a lock smith to open it, hence, the deposit. None of the bigger boxes were available so I got the next largest size they had. It was about 10" wide, 2' deep and only 3" tall. I know that neither the NGC nor the PCGS storage boxes would fit whether upright or on their sides. So, I had to place the slabs in individually on their sides. It seemed that it was custom fit to this method. So, I placed about 80 slabs from from type set and slabbed gold in the front and I was able to just fit all of my gold commemoratives in the mint boxes in the rest. So, there likes the bulk value of my collection for $30 per year. If I would try to store albums and Eagle slab albums and common proof sets, etc. you'd have to rent multiple boxes that can add up to a lot of bucks. So, I would recommend lean. No fancy packaging or other space takers. Maybe you should see what your bank has to offer first in sizes, go home and evaluate your collection for what you want to store at the bank and what would best be kept at home in your safe.

 

Victor Dwayne

[DC Dawg]

Is silica gel better than desiccant?

 

Should I buy some type of box to put inside the safety deposit box?

 

I don't have many albums at this time to put in there but as I complete some I may add them.

Silica Gel is a desiccant! You can find a list of good products from JP's Corner here. I use the silica gel single packs. Single packs are easily interleaved between items and there is less of a musty smell--when the single packs wear over time, you will get a musty smell from the clay.

 

Scott

[just-john]

Best part for me about safe deposit boxes is out of sight out of mind.Auto rent out of checking once a year.Last year they sent a bill to me since my checking moved to a different bank .Went in to pay took the time to open the box been closed for 26 yrs forgot some of the coin I had put in back in 1980

[just-john]

Best part for me about safe deposit boxes is out of sight out of mind.Auto rent out of checking once a year.Last year they sent a bill to me since my checking moved to a different bank .Went in to pay took the time to open the box been closed for 26 yrs forgot some of the coin I had put in back in 1980

[michael]

get a safe deposit vault on the first floor in the middle of the bank so it is not too damp as if it was in gthe basement

 

also get a bank vault that is not sitting next to an exposed wall that gets much sun or the rain/wetness better for the vault to sit in the middle of the bank and not against an outside wall

 

then get a deposit box that is at least 3 feet off of the floor of the vault the higher the better also mark sure that the heating ducts do not run along the vault deposit boxes

 

then after all this make sure you put silca gel in the boxes to neutralize the humidity and also for the slabbed coins get intercept shield containers for then and then out them in airtight ziploc freezer bags presssing as much air out of the bag as possible

 

check the box once a month or so to make sure everything is fu8nctioning normally

 

make sure the vault is air conditioned in the summer and heated in the winter

[coinman1794]

get a safe deposit vault on the first floor in the middle of the bank so it is not too damp as if it was in gthe basement

 

also get a bank vault that is not sitting next to an exposed wall that gets much sun or the rain/wetness better for the vault to sit in the middle of the bank and not against an outside wall

 

then get a deposit box that is at least 3 feet off of the floor of the vault the higher the better also mark sure that the heating ducts do not run along the vault deposit boxes

 

then after all this make sure you put silca gel in the boxes to neutralize the humidity and also for the slabbed coins get intercept shield containers for then and then out them in airtight ziploc freezer bags presssing as much air out of the bag as possible

 

check the box once a month or so to make sure everything is fu8nctioning normally

 

make sure the vault is air conditioned in the summer and heated in the winter

 

dido, michael

[World Colonial]

world colonial,

What do you mean, "Your ANA policy." Do you mean an insurance policy on coins?

Jim

 

Yes, the policy with Hugh Wood underwritten by AXA and offered only to ANA members.

[World Colonial]

I agree with your last comments. It does not make sense to use up more space than necessary in a bank box. Same goes for storing cheap stuff that takes a lot of room. The "loose" material I was referring to is actually Canadian silver Maple Leafs. They are worth a lot more than before but still much less than numismatic material. Eventually, I'll have to store them at home. I'm not paying another $100 for a third box just for this.

 

I've placed a few of my coins in Intercept Shield holders (all by better coins are graded at any time except for recent purchases). But even these can take up a lot of space if you have a lot of them. I plan to use more of these eventually but at the moment I've limited it to my most expensive high grade coins or red copper.

[Just Bob]

Is silica gel better than desiccant?

 

Should I buy some type of box to put inside the safety deposit box?

 

I don't have many albums at this time to put in there but as I complete some I may add them.

Silica Gel is a desiccant! You can find a list of good products from JP's Corner here. I use the silica gel single packs. Single packs are easily interleaved between items and there is less of a musty smell--when the single packs wear over time, you will get a musty smell from the clay.

 

Scott

 

There is actually a more efficient dessicant available from glass/window companies who make their own insulated units. They would probably order it for you, or if you know someone who works for one, you might even talk them into giving you some. Most larger companies buy it by the 55 or 325 lb. drum, but it is also available in a 5lb. can. Unfortunately, you would have sew it into cloth bags, or use some other type of porous container.

 

 

[Conder101]

The molecular sieve desiccant will absorb water faster, but it will not absorb as much as the silica gel will and it is more expensive. The molecular sieve will only absorb 20% of it's own weight in water while silica gel will absorb 40%..

 

So if you are storing in a sealed environment you can get a dryer environment with less of a cheaper product by going with the silica gel. Molecular sieve is only an advantage if you need to dry the environment very rapidly.

[BULLY]

I am cheap on the desiccant, taking them from old bottles of medication every month, and anything else that comes packaged with them (so many things, even lamps and oddities come with them sometimes, so I save them for my safe and safe deposit boxes).

 

That said, you've gotten some good advice here:

 

1. Remember that safe deposit boxes are generally NOT covered by homeowners insurance polices.

 

2. Safe deposit boxes are NOT covered by FDIC insurance.

 

3. While theft is rare, it DOES occur.

 

4. Advice about NOT getting a box in a basement, close to the floor, or on an outside wall are ALL good tidbits, and I agree with all of those items.

 

5. Further, I concur with being sure to insure the contents of your safe deposit box. The ANA policy for coins offered through the Hugh Wood Agency and underwritten by AXA is a good policy, with various levels of coverage based on where your coins are stored. If you keep them in a vault, your premiums might be lower than if you travel with them or ship them a lot.

 

You may ask? Why do I need coverage of a safe deposit box? Think: New Orleans or anywhere along the Gulf Coast after hurricanes Rita and Katrina. If your safe deposit box was in a bank in one of those that was underwater for literally WEEKS or more, how do you think your precious or PRICELESS coin collection would have fared? This is why you need coverage!

 

Think too of the recent wildfires in San Diego and Southern California. What if your bank burned. Think of your coins then. You get the idea.