# Best, most secure way to store gold and silver? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 1, 2019, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-secure-way-to-store-gold-and-silver/841081 "2019-10-01T07:16:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-secure-way-to-store-gold-and-silver/841081/41 "2019-10-01T20:59:16Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > [Done. Now what?](https://i.imgur.com/zP04nES.jpg) That’s cool, but how do you keep the diamonds in the chickens? ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-secure-way-to-store-gold-and-silver/841081/42 "2019-10-01T21:00:11Z")
Ooh, or do what [George de Hevesy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_de_Hevesy) did to hide a couple of gold Nobel Prizes from the Nazis in WWII. Dissolve the gold in acid and just leave the jar out in the open. Nobody’s going to steal a big jar of nasty looking chemicals. Be sure to have the means to precipitate the gold out when you need it. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-secure-way-to-store-gold-and-silver/841081/43 "2019-10-01T21:05:56Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > If you are worried about inflation risk, then you might want to hold a Gold ETF. It’s basically a stock in a corporation that holds gold. If the central banks make fiat currency worthless but the basic financial system continues on operating, then the value of your shares will track gold. Buying that is going to be a lot cheaper than paying a few hundred a year for a box. > > If you’re worried about the whole banking system coming to a crashing halt, I don’t think you should put your gold into a bank box. If things get so bad that banks stop honoring deposits, why would they honor deposit boxes? Trust me, you don’t want to delve into the GLD conspiracy theories. Working customer service for them must be miserable. Can you imagine gold bugs calling up and demanding to know in which vault and location ‘their’ gold is stored in. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-secure-way-to-store-gold-and-silver/841081/44 "2019-10-01T21:19:41Z")
> [@Marcus\_Flavius](#): > > Gold and silver have been valuable to man since about the beginning of recorded history. > > [snip] > > But this is not the thread to discuss such matters, we can create another thread for that. I’m just asking about storage. [Done](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=882961). ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-secure-way-to-store-gold-and-silver/841081/45 "2019-10-01T23:59:30Z")
I have a 2-drawer floor safe that is fireproof. If anyone was to try to steal it, they’d need to bring at least two others to help lift it. Didn’t cost all that much, either. But I just kept my coins in a chest in the bedroom. There was about $15K in gold, silver and collectibles in it, and I just refused to worry about it. Sold it all some years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-secure-way-to-store-gold-and-silver/841081/46 "2019-10-02T00:53:15Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > [Done. Now what?](https://i.imgur.com/zP04nES.jpg) Then chill out. As you seem to have done. Excellent. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-secure-way-to-store-gold-and-silver/841081/47 "2019-10-02T02:20:22Z")
I looked into getting a safe once. A little research convinced me that the personal safes you see at Home Depot or Walmart are basically useless. They look like a safe but are not much more secure than a locked filing cabinet. Most can be typically be broken open with a pry bar or even a large screwdriver. Real safes are heavy and expensive. They’re so heavy that they are difficult to place on anything other than a concrete slab. For people who unwisely choose to place one of these on an upper floor in a house, issues with this include the difficulty of moving it into place, the fact that it likely violates typical allowable floor loads for residential construction, and last but not least, the fact that one way burglars defeat them is by prying them off the floor with crow bars (if they are bolted in place) and pushing them down a flight of stairs. You can only imagine the damage that results to your house. Also, if you have a safe in your house, that’s what will attract the attention of any burglars. They figure that all of your valuables are concentrated in that one place. In fact, if word gets out that you have a safe in your house, that fact alone can make your house a target. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-secure-way-to-store-gold-and-silver/841081/48 "2019-10-02T03:54:45Z")
There is no crime where I live and I’ve got vast quantities of nice hiding places. Send it to me. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-secure-way-to-store-gold-and-silver/841081/49 "2019-10-02T14:38:59Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > Then chill out. As you seem to have done. Excellent. Actually, I cannot chill out as the chickens have commandeered my chair. ☹ > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > That’s cool, but how do you keep the diamonds in the chickens? Surgically implanted diamonds! ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-secure-way-to-store-gold-and-silver/841081/50 "2019-10-02T17:25:16Z")
**Moderator Note** > [@kayaker](#): > > Have you considered carrying your riches in your prison wallet? Please do not threadshit. If you have a problem with another user, take it to the Pit. Do not basically tell them to stick their money up their wazoo. > [@Marcus\_Flavius](#): > > I might hide something in your mom’s prison wallet. Do not attack other users (or their moms) outside of the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-secure-way-to-store-gold-and-silver/841081/51 "2019-10-02T19:16:11Z")
> [@robby](#): > > They figure that all of your valuables are concentrated in that one place. You’re right. The safe was a decoy. The coins are in the pantry, buried in a bag of flour. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-secure-way-to-store-gold-and-silver/841081/52 "2019-10-02T19:43:58Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > You’re right. The safe was a decoy. The coins are in the pantry, buried in a bag of flour. 😃 Many years ago my dad kept over $20k in gold coins in an empty paint can stored among several dozen other paint cans in his basement shop. I knew which it was, but the coins eventually got moved to a deposit box, before ultimately being sold and the proceeds given to his grand kids. Nice windfall for them. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-secure-way-to-store-gold-and-silver/841081/53 "2019-10-02T20:04:59Z")
My MIL had a few gold coins from her family. They were from the time of the Civil war. Not at all in mint condition or anything. But the gold was valuable. She wanted them buried with her. And they were. I wouldn’t have done it. When they were closing the casket on my Daddy I took his wedding ring off his finger. My sibs were not happy about it. I didn’t care, still don’t. It’s been on my hand ever since. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-secure-way-to-store-gold-and-silver/841081/54 "2019-10-02T21:25:26Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > My MIL had a few gold coins from her family. They were from the time of the Civil war. Not at all in mint condition or anything. But the gold was valuable. She wanted them buried with her. And they were. She sounds like a remarkable woman. Where is her grave, exactly, so I can place some flowers on it? ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-secure-way-to-store-gold-and-silver/841081/55 "2019-10-03T00:05:40Z")
I would use a safety deposit box but if banks go belly-up and things turn to total shit ---------- I do have a percentage of my crap/stash/bug-out-funds in the battery compartments of a couple old radios. Nothing anyone would steal or even really look at. It’s genetic; my Dad did the same thing. Which meant when he died we had to go through everything. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-secure-way-to-store-gold-and-silver/841081/56 "2019-10-03T00:07:55Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > She sounds like a remarkable woman. Where is her grave, exactly, so I can place some flowers on it? We actually have a small cemetary on our land. Yes in Arkansas you can get a permit to bury on your property. Find me and you find her grave. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-secure-way-to-store-gold-and-silver/841081/57 "2019-10-03T04:08:43Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Maybe you can’t attach a safe to your current dwelling, but you can still buy one and place it there without bolting it down. [This one weighs 163 pounds;](https://www.sentrysafe.com/product/EF3428E) an opportunistic burglar will not be in a position to carry that away. He wouldn’t have to. I broke into my own sentry safe with a crowbar in less than 10 minutes. Honestly, an inconspicuous space is probably safer than a conspicuous safe that’s anywhere below the $1000 mark. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-secure-way-to-store-gold-and-silver/841081/58 "2019-10-03T08:46:34Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > Many safes can be bolted to the floor or to a wall, with the bolt head being inside the safe, making it pretty immovable without doing extensive demolition. (If you bolt to a wall you’d want to go into a stud of course.) {…} At best, you’re only gonna hit two studs. I can cut through them, without ‘extensive’ demolition, with a Sawzall in under five minutes. CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-secure-way-to-store-gold-and-silver/841081/59 "2019-10-03T10:16:53Z")
> [@naita](#): > > Safe deposit boxes aren’t insured by the bank, but there’s nothing stopping you from taking out insurance on the stuff you store there, is there? Not as far as I know. A while back I looked into renting one and the only bank in my area which had them available also offered to insure the contents, but in that case you had to declare them; not in detail, just the same way that you give an estimate or the contents of your house before you get home insurance. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-secure-way-to-store-gold-and-silver/841081/60 "2019-10-03T12:21:09Z")
> [@Ashtura](#): > > He wouldn’t have to. I broke into my own sentry safe with a crowbar in less than 10 minutes. Impressive, but you had A) a crowbar, and B) time. Most random intruders aren’t going to arrive with a crowbar, and most don’t want to linger in a place they aren’t supposed to be; they tend to stick around just long enough to grab a few valuable things they can cram into their pockets. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-secure-way-to-store-gold-and-silver/841081.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-secure-way-to-store-gold-and-silver/841081.md?page=4)