A safe to keep my cards...safe
 

Hey guys, I've seen some discussion on the forum about safes for our baseball card collections, and I'm looking to purchase one of my own (the cards will also be insured). My question would be about the fire rating for the safes you all have. The one I'm looking at (A Sentry safe) provides an hour protection against fires up to 1700 F (as well as 24 hour protection against water).

Is that enough? It also provides protection against water for up to 24 hours.

As I'll only be keeping my most valuable cards in it, everything will be slabbed, or in one touch cases, and graded bags. So I want to make sure the protection is adequate so the plastic won't melt. The fire station is only about 4 blocks from my house, so I can't imagine that any fire would burn at full strength for anywhere near an hour, but I want some feedback nonetheless.

Thanks!

I'm looking as well. If you have a link to your safe I'd be interested in seeing it.

I got one of those Sentry safes, and its portable...I think mine holds about 30 graded cards or around that much if stackec properly. I reccomend buying one thats gonna hold 100 cards--for future purchases and plenty of room to not mess up the cards. Some people got these towering ones, like gun safes with shelves.
If they are really valuable...people use the bank.

Interesting. I've considered a safe myself, but in thinking about it, the possibility of fire or flood seems well below the threat of theft somehow. Any size safe sitting in the den seems like waving a flag and screaming, here it is - the jackpot - to any b&e'er that otherwise might not have time for a thorough search, assuming it could be lifted and hauled away using average strength. Maybe I'm not in a typical position, since my collectibles are well hidden in the garage, where they may not be as susceptible to fire damage.

If you have the room and dont plan on moving soon, I would be tempted to getting something like a gun safe. It would fit plenty of cards, auto's and some bats. Really just depends on what you have and how much room you have in your house.

If you just have a shoe box size of cards, you'll probably be fine with a smaller safe, just so its hidden somewhere so that someone can't pick it up.

Gun safes can be pretty pricey, but if you have a lot of goodies and you want to make sure they are safe, I'd at least look into it.

I've been looking at something like this

http://www.sentrysafe.com/images/pro...FW123DSB_b.jpg

Should cover all my needs until my collection gets more valuable. Gets 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon.com.

Hmm, reading one of the reviews about some of the moisture problems with that particular model, and obviously that's a no no for somebody storing baseball cards.

I'll keep researching this, guys, and try to find a solution that I can share with everybody on Net 54. In the mean time, I would really like some feedback from other forum members as to what they use. I know some people like gun safes, but that's a little too big for me. Being on disability, and living with my family right now, I don't want to bring anything too large into the house. I'm looking for something that I can fit in my bedroom that offers fire and water protection, yet ease of portability (100 lbs or so).

I found a similar thread on the forum from a few years back, and it goes into detail on the moisture issue: here


And a quote from Leon:

So perhaps the safe will still suit my needs so long as the cards are properly stored.

It's not like I won't be opening my safe often to look at the cards inside, so "airing it out" every couple of weeks, so to speak, would not be an issue.

Looks like Tony N has a great solution, a Remington dehumidifier which is rechargeable. :D

Look at this one by Sentry:
http://www.amazon.com/SentrySafe-H33...oof+waterproof

That's a nice one, but it's only 30 minutes of fire protection.