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What is the criteria for storing jewelry in your safe?

luv2sparkle

luv2sparkle

Ideal_Rock
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Feb 3, 2008
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A couple weeks ago, Texaskj posted a thread about jewelry armoires-yay or nay. The consensus seemed to be to go with a safe, since it would be a safer option. I was just wondering what the criteria is for pieces that you put in a safe vs. pieces that you leave in a jewelry box. Do you put just your high end/cost pieces in a safe and leave the rest out? I don't have very much costume jewelry. I have some silver and gemstone pieces but that is as low as I go metal wise. I have mostly gold jewelry. I thought the safe was a very good idea and plan to get one very soon. I have a lot of jewelry. Do I just store it all in the safe. I love my armoire that is attached to a wall in my closet because I can see everything at once. So how do you decide what you store in the safe?
 
IMO a safe is a theft target.

I'd just hide stuff in unexpected places around the house, and store the most valuable and rarely-used items in a bank's safe deposit box.
 
I agree with what Kenny suggests. You don't want to store your valuable jewelry in one place like a jewelry box or armoire. Just don't forget where you are hiding it around the house :roll:. The best safes are bolted to the floor or wall. I have one bolted to the wall and camouflaged so you would never notice it as being a safe. Do not keep your values in your bedroom, that's the first place the burglar goes. Don't leave anything out or in a jewelry box that you wouldn't mind losing!
 
The country I live in has one the lowest crime rates in the world, if not the lowest (I haven't actually looked it up). Still, I have a metal safe bolted onto the floor and we have a house alarm system too, linked to CISCO and the police. In addition, I have a safety deposit box at the bank. I currently keep in the bank those items that I don't wear often or high-value items that are not insured (I insure some high-value items and I don't insure the rest). I'll, soon, be getting a massive very heavy safe that would require 4-6 men to carry and I'll have it bolted even deeper onto the floor. The safe at my house is not well hidden but it's not terribly visible either. I'm getting a bit bored with having to go to the bank more often that I'd like to take out and put back items, hence the larger heavier safe. But the future plan is that any high-value items that are not insured still get put back promptly into the bank safe deposit box the very day after the event; whereas lower-value items that are not worn frequently will still be kept in the home safe, along with high-value insured items.
 
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Get a large gun safe or one you can bolt to the floor. They can't be hauled away with ease.
 
All of my costume jewelry stays out. Gold, diamond and platinum pieces worn frequently are in the safe that is bolted between the floor joists. Less worn stuff, GIA certs and appraisals are in the bank's safe deposit box.
 
Can you replace it? That would be the deciding factor so anything expensive or with sentimental value would go in the safe.
 
As others have said, a safe is only safe if it's bolted down enough that no one would even try to get into it or remove it. I don't have one of those, but I do use a decoy jewelry box that is nice looking, sits in the spot a jewelry box would logically sit and is filled with the jewelry I never wear and wouldn't miss if it disappeared (we all have some of that). The key to the decoy is that a burglar thinks they've found your stash and stops looking. It saved me a long time ago when we were burglarized.

All of my good stuff that I'm not wearing is in a great hiding place that no one would ever suspect yet is convenient to get to. I know no one would ever suspect because it took me 30 years to realize what a great hiding place it was. If I'm gone on a long trip, there are some places built into the house that no one would ever find and I put my jewelry there and make sure someone I trust knows that I've put the good stuff there. These spots are more of a hassle to get to so I only use them for extended trips away. I used to put some things in a safe deposit box but it pretty much guaranteed I'd never wear those items because it was such a hassle to go to the bank. And if I never wear it, what's the point of having it?
 
Rainwood, my mom does that too! She always tells me where she hides her e-ring just in case. Decoy box is a great idea.
 
True story from China.. a close relative of mine was invited to a house of a friend for dinner. After dinner and all the dishes were cleared, the host dismissed the servants and closed the dining room door. The guests were asked to help move the massive round granite table. It took half a dozen people a LOT of effort to push this table even 1 ft. Turned out there was a big hole in the floor that was normally hidden by the table, you would not even suspect it was there. The hole was used to store cash and other valuables. Apparently the host had several of these hiding places built into the house and told the workmen it was for storing wine and such.
 
I have always had one small (ish) safe that is bolted to the floor and very well hidden. It's for documents/passports and all real jewellery when I go on vacation.

I also have a nice jewellery box in my bedroom like rainwood uses.

I had police come and make safety suggestions for our place (they do this for free in my - generally pretty safe - country). They explained to me that the average burglar only has very little time and will just take the obvious stuff.

What freaked me out was the fact that three of my friends were at home sleeping (with their families), when it happened.
All their stuff from the "regularly worn" category (wedding set, bracelets, mostly brand name and heirlooms ) was stolen. So in my new home I will have a small built-in safe right by the bed as well. I am just too tired at night to lock up my wedding set, watch, bracelet, earrings in my hiding place.
I also hope that in case someone gets into my place, the random thief will be distracted by the box, the professional burglar will see the not so well hidden bedroom safe and decide to either leave it or try to take it, but won't go looking for the second one....
As soon as the safe is bolted down, the percentage of thieves who'd be able to take it or open it is actually very low.

The cost of our high quality safe was surprisingly low, compared to the value and insurance cost (here, jewellery insurances seem to be more limited than in the US and never cover loss, mine is under my homeowner's policy and requires a safe).
The bank vault (of our family) is for stuff I NEVER need. It's justa too restricting to go there...
 
The best safes were made in the 1920's-30's.
 
I store anything bling that I love and cannot be easily replaced in my safes. They bolted to the floor and wall and to each other and make it challenging to get to my valuable bling. I don't have much costume jewelry but what I do have that is costume doesn't go in my safe but is in a pretty wooden and sizable jewelry box that is on my bedroom dresser and that my mom hand decorated for me over a decade ago. There is nothing I would miss (but the box) if that was taken or jewelry was stolen from there. And all my valuable jewelry goes in the safe. Easy peasy and my bling is always available for me to enjoy whenever I want to wear it or just admire it.
 
As said in the other thread, I have an Amsec Safe which does dual duty.. well more like triple duty...lol considering the amount of guys it took to get it in the door, I do NOT worry about it leaving here....lol. In the last house we left it there. There wasn't going to be an easy way to remove it without blowing out a wall or something crazy.

Always a must to have a safe bolted to a floor or wall. Small safes don't do much good if you can just carry them off.

Security in a home should always be multi layered, and there's a lot of layers that a person would need to go through to get in the door without me knowing it and yeah don't let me be at home because this is a castle doctrine state.

Case in point, the least assuming person you could ever meet in my neighborhood has a sign on her gate that says "there's nothing behind this gate worth dying for." I laugh about it, being the neighbor is an 80 year old woman who feeds all the ducks and ibis here. She told me that when the neighborhood was rough years ago, she put that sign up and never had an issue. We also go to the same shooting range so can't think of anyone in their right mind that would want to tangle with her...

Back to the original question, I put the things I don't wear as often in the safe. Things I wear daily are generally on my person (like my earrings).
 
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Thank you all. I am planning to get a safe very soon from the company that was recommended in the last thread, and it will be bolted to the floor in my upstairs master closet. Size will depend on how much weight can be put on the floor without having to make structural changes. I have so much jewelry that I have collected over the years it will be hard to decide what goes in it. I really can't think of places that I could store it that it couldn't be found. Plus, I am afraid I would forget where I put it! My mom used to tell me that her father hid money in his MA farm but when he died it was never found. They knew he had buried money before. He was a very wealthy man according to his children but didn't believe in banks. Our home is alarmed and security camera'd to the hilt and my closet door is solid with a key pad lock. I never leave the house without locking it. We don't live in a high crime area but break ins are pretty common everywhere these days. The bank route is not for me. I would rather not own any jewelry than have to do that. I would never enjoy it. All of my pieces that I wear often will definitely go in as well as, I guess, the pieces that I could not easily replace. I think I just have too much. Most is not super valuable, but gold and gems being what they are, it would all add up to a healthy sum in total.
 
Most burglars are opportunists, so it's a good idea to leave some things out that they will just grab and run with.

We leave a laptop that looks brand new (but has no hard drive) out on the breakfast room table and another on the study desk. I leave a couple of replica rings in turquoise boxes with white ribbons on my drsssing table in the bedroom, together with a fake Rolex :lol:. The burglars will be very disappointed when they realise their haul is just junk!
 
IMO the only good safes are the drop down ones.

Otherwise, a thief can just pick it up and carry it away.
 
The good stuff is hidden around the house in weird spots.
I keep a decoy jewelry box on the dresser with costume stuff in it.
I have some "rarely worn" stuff in a safety deposit box.
I always felt that a safe was a good target, so I never had one.
 
My husband in big into guns so we have a large gun safe and a couple shelves in there are mine so that is where I keep my gem collection and high end pieces. Every day pieces are in my jewelry box in bedroom
 
My safe has the sentimental things that cannot be replaced. Not necessarily expensive pieces but the things I’ve inherited and never want to lose.

My good jewelry I wear as often as possible so I want easy access. I have a few lockable drawers I keep them in but if they get stolen, the expensive stuff is insured anyway. The rest I will replace in time and not stress over.
 
Hubby decided we needed a safe, so in typical sarahb hubby fashion, he opted for a safe the size of a refrigerator. At first, I thought he was crazy to get one so big, but now I appreciate it. We can keep all our important papers, his guns, our jewelry, our coins, silver etc. It also is fire rated, & cannot be removed--its something like 700 pounds or so. We store everything of financial value including anything of sentimental value in that safe.
 
sarahb said:
Hubby decided we needed a safe, so in typical sarahb hubby fashion, he opted for a safe the size of a refrigerator. At first, I thought he was crazy to get one so big, but now I appreciate it. We can keep all our important papers, his guns, our jewelry, our coins, silver etc. It also is fire rated, & cannot be removed--its something like 700 pounds or so. We store everything of financial value including anything of sentimental value in that safe.
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Those are the best safes and if we had the room we would get one too. My parents had that kind of safe and it was wonderful. Sandy destroyed it however and they never replaced it. As you wrote it really held everything one needed to be safe and then some.
 
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