I’ve finally been able to secure another safe deposit box at my bank. It took nearly a year!!! My other boxes are mainly filled with sports cards and other goodies. I got this one for my Pokemon cards. I’m wondering what you all consider a decent price point. I was thinikng $500, but I have many cards within the $200-$500 range. I’m just curious what some of you do.
I think for me it’s more the total value of cards I want safe, rather than the single highest card value. Am I going to get a safe box for a single $20k card? Definitely not. Would I get a safe box for storing say 50 $2000 cards, possibly. I think it would take at least $50k in cards for me to consider a safe box. Also depends if I’m constantly moving cards or not. Would be a pain in the butt to be withdrawing cards weekly when sold.
I’m far from a whale, but you’re pretty much on point for what I do. Another point to take into consideration is how much you keep in the box value-wise. When I reach “x” value in one box, I’ll start filling another box in another location.
Is a safety deposit box the gold standard for storing collectibles? I believe most aren’t temperature and humidity controlled. The more valuable my cards, the less likely I am to store them in a safety deposit box.
I’m still trying to come up with the best solution, but a safety deposit box isn’t an option I’d consider. The keys for me are:
1.) Secure
2.) Climate controlled
3.) Out of home
@charizandrew when the lock on my safe at home broke that’s what I went with. Mine is climate controlled, but I still keep silica in with my cards to be safe. For $36 a year and the added security it was worth it to me.
It is a pain to get cards in and out, but all my “valuable” cards are lifers in my collection so I don’t need to see them often.
@whiterabbit, I would still be concerned with temperature. Does the AC stay on when employees aren’t working? If not, you may be getting large swings in temperature. If your items are in an air tight box, fluctuating temperatures will cause fluctuating humidities. You would have a fixed amount of moisture in your box that gets absorbed as air heats and released as air cools. I believe this is why safes need to be opened occasionally.
I may be overly cautious, but I’m not risking it for any item I can’t replace.
Where can you insure collectible cards for full amounts up to 1,000,000.00.
Where can you insure safety deposit boxes?
As far as cards being protected in SDB’s, they are. They’re not air tight and banks are normally kept climate controlled. I’ve kept cards in bank boxes for 40 years (between California and Nevada) without incident. Humidity wise, I can’t say. It’s a desert out there;)
(Likely) incorrect. Most standard policies will NOT cover much as far as collectibles go and likely have several other subcategories that how limits far below the total limit that they’ll advertise.
My new homeowners policy I just bought has a ~$200,000 personal belongings limit. Sounds nice, right? Well there is a $500 limit on cash and a $5,000 limit on jewelry and collectibles with a max of $1,000 per item. So if I had a total loss fire and all my cards were destroyed I would get $5,000 for them after proving their value and that’s it. Even if I had no other belongings in the whole property, I would get a check for $5,000 less deductible and be unable to access that theoretical $195,000 remaining in coverage.
Always be sure to check your policy and the individual limits.
I finally have a card to worry about this. I called my insurance agent and from what I was told, my house insurance covers that card. But I can’t itemize it without it being appraised (which I wouldn’t even know where to go to get an exact value). They told me to use antiques as an example. Just because someone will pay $5000 for an antique, doesn’t mean it can be insured for that much.
I’m a noob when it comes to insuring and that stuff, so it’s interesting to see some of these responses.