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About SafesThe writer's name has been
withheld The need to keep valuables safe from fire and theft is as old as wealth. 321gold readers should keep some gold bullion. The recent article by Doug Casey discussed 4 options: safe deposit box, burial, hiding, and safes. This essay considers safes. I was introduced to safes by Mr. Mancini of Mancini Safe Company in 1984, after I purchased my first gold coins. He showed me a John Tann safe that had withstood a 3-day attack with a jackhammer. The frustrated thieves spray-painted "Damn John Tann" on the door. It took me 20 years to accumulate enough gold to justify the purchase of a used 4,500 lb jeweler's safe for $4,500. Installation added another $800. The safe has 5" of drill-resistant ferroconcrete, armor plate, heavy copper frame and randomly-placed copper alloy bolts to defeat torch attacks, plus 2 separate locks protected by relockers, tempered glass plates that shatter and lock the bolts permanently if attacked by punches or hammers. Opening the safe afterwards will cost nearly as much as the purchase, but will seem cheap if it comes to that. A safe buys time, nothing more. Any safe will fail if the attacker has sufficient time and resources. How much time? A "home security safe" opened very easily using an axe. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr_54FXnJCQ [video] The leading manufacturer of
home safes emphasizes fire security, not burglary: A "premium" safe costing $1,000 fails in less than 2 minutes when attacked with a crowbar and pry bar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBhOjWHbD6M&NR=1. [video] More fearsome are oxy-acetylene torches, plasma cutters, and thermic lances, which use high-pressure oxygen to burn steel rods and cut most metal like butter. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fbo3NS-rZqw [video] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMKBOoAOR7I [video] A cheap safe is equivalent to putting a "steal me" sign on your gold. You can hide the safe, but why not just hide the gold? It will be smaller and easier to conceal. Is there any hope? Safes are like any other kind of security, a continual race between defenders and attackers. UL Labs has been testing safes against sophisticated attacks for 85 years. (European readers can find equivalents to UL ratings with a Google search.) While the highest rating is 60 minutes, UL rules are conservative. The clock runs only while attackers are working, they can take breaks, plan, and set up at their leisure. They can use jackhammers, high-pressure carbide drills, even explosives. The UL attackers review plans of the safe construction, an advantage few free-lance thieves enjoy. UL-rated "30 minute" safes, like the John Tann safe I saw 24 years ago, often withstand attacks lasting nights and weekends. UL standard 687 recognizes 10 classifications of burglary resistant safes: http://www.inkassafes.com/about.html?sid=8 UL tests for attacks with tools (TL rating), torches (TR), and explosives (TX). The attacks can be on the door or on any face, in which case an "x6" is added to the rating. Safe cracking via lock manipulation makes great movies, but it takes days of careful work by top professionals to crack a good safe this way. I've opened a cheap safe with manipulation in less then 2 hours, and I am no safe cracker. Jewelers store valuable merchandise overnight, and their insurers require UL-rated safes. 321gold readers can benefit from experience distilled in jeweler's guidelines:
$150,000 is a large number, how high do you expect gold to go? If $3,000 gold is possible, 50 ounces requires a TL-15 safe. To protect 100 ounces, if you think gold will hit $5,000, buy a TRTL-rated safe. Good safes aren't cheap. Megasafe.com has a good selection of new and used safes. Find a dealer near you and visit them. Add shipping and installation by a professional. Safes are heavy enough to be dangerous; this is not a DIY project. A final word of caution: if you buy a safe, keep it secret, and be safe. Hide your safe. The door on my safe weighs 800 lbs. I make a point of using only the handles, and never put my fingers on the door edge. Close it gently lest you accidentally trigger the relockers. Children find small enclosed spaces irresistible, but getting locked inside a safe can be a death sentence... Be careful, be safe. 321gold Ltd |
