How do you guys keep your collections safe

I’m always paranoid about something bad happening to my collection and I haven’t great ideas of protection. Seeing as they’re super fragile

If you sleeve a card and put it in a self-contained side-loading binder, like Ultra Pro or Monster, the card isn’t going to get damaged unless you set your collection on fire or drop it from a third story balcony or something. Honestly, don’t overthink protection.

And if you’re still not able to find peace of mind, PSA grade the cards you care the most about. If you’re damaging cards through PSA cases you probably shouldn’t be allowed near nice stuff anyway. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Just hide them away in a cardboard box or something(example:shoe box for cards/packs), on a dry and dark place away from animals and stuff. Sleeve up the cards and put them in hard cases. What’s in you collection? Cards, packs, boxes?

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I feel you. I’m mostly paranoid about being robbed or a fire breaking out, even though neither has happened before. I’ve thought about getting a big enough container to store all my cards in so they’re all in one place. I would make it easily accessible so I could quickly grab it in case of an emergency (after getting truly important things/animals out first of course :stuck_out_tongue:). I would also cover my cards with old papers/empty packages that I’ve piled up over the years in hopes that potential robbers would think it’s a worthless container full of junk and move on :blush:

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I ended up getting a safe deposit box at the bank. It’s a good way to ensure that you are never the victim of robbery, fire, and in most cases flood. Just make sure your bank that isn’t in a flood zone.

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Most banks will give you a safety deposit box for $5/month, just don’t lose the keys and you’ll be good.

Every time these threads come up I always point to buying a fire safe. For less than the cost of a single card you can store loads and loads of items worry free. Ideally you would go the route of a true safe (or really even a residential security container/“RSC” like I went with). For ~$1k I picked up a liberty safe that can protect against the standard smash and grab burglar as well as against my house burning down.

For sub $100 you can even get a waterproof/fireproof file that beats the hell out of a shoebox. Note that in the event of a burglary this becomes just a burglar convenience box unless extremely well hidden, but one worked wonders for me when my apartment burned down back in college. Loose lips sink ships and all that too so don’t go bragging about your collection too much especially if your storage method is a shoebox and/or the burglar convenience box especially if you are storing 5 figures+.

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Not Zelda Gilroy has a metallic safe. As seen in the show haha. That looks very durable for storing PSA cards

Hmmm…let’s see.

Charizard or Rover?:thinking:
Charizard or Rover?:thinking:
Charizard or Rover?:thinking:
Uhmmm…bye Rover! :skull_and_crossbones:

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That’s more of a travel case.
I have a large rifle case inside one of my storage lockers with most my collectibles and a second one for overflow and auction items. Storage facilities are great cause they’re monitored and made of metal with individual sprinklers so fireproof.

Insurance is the best protection…

I have checked the link you’ve provided. The safe looks decent. I’ve recently found a few cheaper waterproof/fireproof safes on secretstorages.com/top-10-fireproof-document-storages/ . This one is much cheaper at the moment

What do you think about it? Is it worth considering?

Aren’t those the lockers they just smash on one corner to open them in Storage Wars?

its fire and waterproof not thug proof :wink:

I would recommend it 100% for what it is. A burglar convenience box. That being said, it is great at repelling fire and water so if your house burns down, PSA graded cards and such would outlast inside of it even after all the hosing down and stuff. But in the event of break in, if someone were to find it, it just makes their job easier. That is where the “loose lips sink ships” comes in. Be sure to hide it extremely well or ideally put it inside a larger fire safe. I have a large Liberty safe that only has a 60 minute fire rating. Theoretically if my house were to fully burn down with no support from the fire dept (unlikely as I live 5 min from one, unless they hate me I guess) it could get hot enough inside the safe to destroy cash and paper items. That is why inside I have two of these smaller safes. This one on its own is only good for 30 minutes at 1550 F, which depending on where it was in the house, it could possibly see that. Being that my large safe would take 60 minutes to reach only about 300 degrees internal then this one takes another 30 minutes at 1550 (which it would never get to inside large safe) it is theoretically 100% safe as far as fire goes if my entire house burns to ash with no support.

TLDR: Infinitely better than nothing. Infinitely better inside a larger fire rated actual safe than on its own as it is essentially a burglar convenience box instead of a “safe”. Even my large $1,000 safe is only a “residential security container” and a professional with tools given about 30 minutes could be inside it. ~$10,000 or so would be required for a similar sized actual safe but I just don’t have the value inside to make that worth it, plus all mine is insured on my homeowners as well which is a crucial point for large collections. Parts of mine are moving offsite to insured bank boxes as well which is another great albeit less accessible method.

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Do those fireproof containers really work that well? $40 for that one is actually pretty cheap I’d say, not in a bad way, but I wouldn’t be planning to spend tons on it if just starting my collection!

Good article ketch.
Why wouldn’t they simply make your large safe with another layer of protection made out of the same stuff as your little safes?

Brings to mind what a comedian said about the Black Boxes they always find intact after a plane crash, “Why don’t they make the whole dam plane out of that sh*t.”

They are 3rd party tested to be fireproof to XXXX degrees temperature for XX amount of minutes so they work exactly as advertised, you just need to understand what that is exactly.

The one I linked is certified to 30 minutes at 1550 F. Meaning that it is 3rd party verified at that time and temp to be fine for CD/DVD/HDD/paper documents. Depending on where in your house you store it, how far your nearest fire dept is, how much value you store inside, what your budget is among a few other factors will lead you to determining which is best for you.

How do I keep my collection safe? Simple! I don’t let it leave my sight. Ever.

Seriously.

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Can’t go wrong with Pelican Cases and their Pick N Pluck Foam Inserts!

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