COIN SAFETY THOUGHTS

[onecent1909]

Coin Safety. What does that mean to you? A safe? Looking around at coin shows? Watching people? A P.O. box to keep coins in?
This is an area we all could all use some help and could give help to others.

So I am going to start.
I am a self proclaimed Pessimist, so I warn you, I take it to extremes.

[onecent1909]

COIN SHOWS, COIN SHOPS, FLEA MARKETS, AND BANKS
Most of us will go to a show, a shop, or flea market more than once a year. some once a week or more.
Banks, Who knows. Have you ever walked into a bank and said to a teller, I collect coins and wondered if you have any _____? That person at the next teller may have heard you, and they may watch you leave.
Where are you at the most risk? leaving the building, walking to the car, driving to your house, or once you get home?
I think your drive to your house. If followed you are leading them to your home, any coins you may have there, and family and friends that might be at your home. Be careful. When you leave a show, shop, bank, your work, anywhere that some one finds out your a collector, watch the cars that leave when you leave. count them, when you get on another road see if they do too.
When I leave a show, I count how many cars leave with me, and what colors they are. I go down 2 roads ( I always go around the building at a coin show ), go the speed limit, then slow down to 5 under the limit. if they are just cars, they will not keep up with you they should pass you when you slow down. Then I speed up and see what happens. ( I do not think you should speed... and I will not say if I do... but....)
A lot of us want to get a drink or eat something when we leave a show. I don't stop at the nearest place. I always go down the road a ways. This does not always work out as dealers have been robbed 2 states away after leaving shows, but it can cut down on the possibility. Park where you can watch your car. do not think this is perfect, as vans have parked beside dealers cars and broke in.
I try to lock my stuff up in the trunk, AND I have a few cheap ( read I do not care If I lose them ) coins in a box in the back seat. IF someone walks up to you when you are getting back in your car and attempts to rob you.... give them the back seat box. If they break into your car they find the back seat box, they may run with that and leave the trunk alone. Think of it as a decoy.
If you think you are being followed.... NEVER GO HOME!
Go to a busy store and park and sit. Now watch and see if they park, and if they get out.
Leave and go to another store, If you are being followed, call 911 and tell them about your apprehension. They will send an officer and this should scare away the Mysterious Car

[onecent1909]

RECEIVING COINS,BOOKS, AND MATERIALS
Try not to get coins, book, advertisements, anything in the mail. Let's face it, you really do not know what that mail man is going through. He may let it slip to someone at a poker game that Mr. Joe Smith on main street got a package from Seth's Coins today... and it weight 38 Lbs. If he gets in a hole he may be asked for the address in exchange for the $100.00 he owes.
Get a P.O. Box. Get your coins shipped to a neutral place, like your work.
Try this. Google your address. You can get a satellite view, a street view, in some cases using Zillow a value for the house, If you go on the County website there are quite a few thing you can find out.
You can plan driving escape roots, parking locations, known abandoned houses or a house for sale so if you do get stopped you have an excuse for being in the area. I am a pessimist so here goes, even people on this forum... do you really know them? I am not saying anyone would, but coins as a hobby.. people know they are valuable. If someone signed on and is lurking..... looking..... searching...... well you could be his target.
"Let me send you this coin to look at" or "I can you that RPM.. I have 5 of them."....does this sound familiar

[onecent1909]

HOME SECURIETY.
Do you have an Alarm? a Gun? a Safe? Is this enough?
I have a safety deposit box. I tell everyone that my expensive coins are in my SD box at my bank.
I do have an alarm. I do have a gun. and a small safe. I still let people I work with know that it is all at the bank. Minimize the reward for breaking in. Do not give them a target.
If you are broken into and you do not have a safe... where do you put your coins? Think about it... the thief is. Put them somewhere you would not hide them.
Behind books? Nope that would be place number 3 I would look. Under the bed and in the closet? That would be number 2 and number 1. Behind the old VCR or the DVD player? Why so they can find them when stealing your electronics?
Try.... behind some pots and pans that you never use that are in a cabinet in the kitchen.
..........or behind the washing machine
..........in a plant pot at the bottom, under another pot holding a fake plant ( don't want to water it)
Vacations....DO NOT TELL ANYONE YOU ARE GOING AWAY !!! (I am guilty of this one).
It is like sending out an Invite. Over here...... break in....... steal from me....
Going on Vacation, tell people you're taking a few days off to clean up the house or help a neighbor move. Your family and most trusting friends... you can tell them so they can check on your house....
Everyone else....Nope... Nada... No Way.

[onecent1909]

LOOKING AT SOMEONES COLLECTION.
OK we all get asked... "I have some old coins, can you tell me what they are worth?"
Do not go to their house, and do not let them come to your house.
Lets say you go to their house and they have a silver dollar worth $300.00. If in 1 week it is broken into and the dollar is gone.... you may be a suspect. Even though they put the silver dollar behind the DVD player and all the electronics were stolen, you may still be questioned.
Meet at a work in the break room, a library, somewhere neutral.
At work I right down all coins and date/mintmarks and condition. Then I go home and see if there is a variety for that year/mintmark. Then I tell them to bring back the coins and check for variety.
lastly I show them a grading guide, a price guide, and tell them what they are worth.
If I want one I tell them I will pay that price, and I warn them that a dealer will pay less as they need to make a profit. This is just me... I am always fare.. sometimes it cost me... but MEH.

[onecent1909]

What IDEAS do you have on safety...
Any tips for the rest of us ( me included ) would be appreciated.

[Peter]

Interesting points John that I know are going to generate discussions. I personally keep absolutely nothing at home anymore and limit interactions. No one knows what I do or have and even those that think they do are really clueless.

[willbrooks]

I keep mine in the belly of a shark with laser beams on its head.

[GrumpyEd]

"I can you that RPM.. I have 5 of them."

I think most crooks would prefer a hoard of state quarter rolls to some RPM cents. They want stuff that's cash or easy to liquidate.
Maybe the last thing a crook wants is a collection of RPM cents because they would spend them at face or need to study and figure out how to sell them to a specialist and risk being caught while doing it.

Probably not hoarding stuff is a good idea, if you can avoid it don't keep bags of hoarded stuff or stacks of silver.
If you keep things as a hobby instead of an investment or making a living then you might have little enough that you can fit it in your SDB and you aren't much of a target. I used to hoard stuff then got rid of it all, it felt better without it and the bulk stuff didn't give any enjoyment.
If you sell coins for living or hold PMs for investment then you better use every idea in the posts above and more to keep safe.

[mustbebob]

You were not kidding when you said you go to extremes. We also need to be realistic when we say a lot of thefts are crimes of opportunity and not well thought out plans based on things like having coin magazine subscriptions.
No matter what, I will never ignore or make fun of any individual's security for their coins. There are a whole lot of factors that go into these things, and it all depends on what you have that would be attractive to a thief. A bunch of varieties wouldn't be as much a target as bullion, so keep up what you are doing.

[Roller]

Whew! Really? John, you are super paranoid, my friend. LOL. I suppose if I dealt in bullion or large quantities of coins (other than cents) it would occur to me to worry. Thank goodness that is not part of my collecting life. I'll admit that I look around every time I leave the house with a heavy bank bag of coins (sometimes two bags) going to the coin counter but not because I fear losing the bag, rather, because I don't want some idiot seeing me and breaking into my house thinking that I have great value there. I worry more about losing my guns and other stuff, though it would make me sick to lose all the hard earned varieties I've pulled over uncountable hours of searching. The store where I get my bags of coins insists that I use one of their shopping bags (they actually gave me one for the purpose) taking the coin bag to my car, just in case. That's as far as my security worries go.

[jfines69]

I believe in the Colt 45 Home Defense System ... These days if you have high resolution photography available it can be used to id a coin... After all no 2 coins are exactly the same... If something should happen and a valuable coin is stolen that would be the best way to id it!!!

[Maineman750]

A safe, a dog, and a carry permit work pretty well for me.

[Brad]

I tell people all my coins are in a safety deposit box every chance I get. I visited them twice this weekend.

[Gunnovice09]

The only thing with a safe is make sure it is large enough (heavy enough) that a thief or thieves cannot carry it away together. My grandfather had a safe that weighed enough for two people to carry away and they did. He lost all his coins (gold, colonials ect) and an even more non replaceable item, his great grandfathers gold pocket watch. If the safe is too heavy to carry away even with a group of people they will most likely just leave it, especially if it has to go up or down a set of stairs. Also with a smaller safe, once they carry it off even if it is locked it is fairly easy to get into when they get back to their place with all kinds of tools and torches to use.