I have to agree with Pfm. Currently I store my collection at multiple locations.
And of course some common sense, do not tell everybody where you store it and how much it is worth. Some friends know that I have valuable collectibles but even they don’t know how much it is actually worth (and they don’t really care to be honest).
For my smaller and more valuable items I decided that I wanted a safe (mainly against burglary and the fact that only I have access to it). So I came up with the idea to restore an old safe. This one is quite heavy and not possible to move for a single burglar and it helped me to have a nice summer project.
It has some fire resistance properties but since it is from the 19 century the fire better be out quickly .
When I was a kid, I hid my cards inside a cardboard box inside my closet.
When I was a teenager, I hid my cards inside a binder on the inside of my drawer.
When I was an amateur adult collector, I stored everything inside a drawer under my bed.
Now that I’ve been collecting for over 20 years, I’ve learned from all of my experience, fought off issues with humidity, have manifested the ability to store my cards safely, securely, and in a location close enough that I can retrieve them whenever I wish to look upon them…
Thanks, much appreciated! I got lucky and scored it at an online marketplace.
The original cost was around $250 (with no keys). A specialized lock smith made 2 keys which costed $100. The rest of the restoration I did myself and costed around $200 (which can vary a lot depending on the items you already have and the paint you want to use). So overall just over the $550 mark.
I hope I have got you inspired to also restore one
My office used to be a bank and the vault is still there. Its perfect for my needs because only I have the combination and key, it has temperature and humidity controls and it is at the back of my office so I have easy constant access to my collection whenever I want.
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You had me in the first half