Collection in Peril!

[cmoore330]

Fortunately, I have a narrow focus and the bulk of my collection is in one moveable aluminum case. Why is this important? I am fortunate to live in the great state of Oklahoma, tornado capital of the world! So while the rest of you were sleeping at 3 am last night, I was in the safe room with my family and my collection. Looks like we'll get to do it again today as well. What perils threaten your collection?

[ullmandds]

My cat Otto loved the taste of old cardboard...he is the biggest peril to my collection!

[vintagetoppsguy]

Casey, good luck to you and your family and all the folks there in Oklahoma. I would like to think my collection is well protected in my gun safe. It has 14 locking bolts and a fire protection rating of 1500 degrees for up to 60 minutes. While I realize that anything can happen, I do sleep better at night.

[Cardboard Junkie]

Lava......Volcanos.......Tsunamis.......Worst was 2 new puppys a few years back that got a hold of a t206 Cobb.(Red portrait)...thankfully it was in a one inch screw down that was destroyed, but the card survived. They played hockey with it for a while. aloha, dave.

[zljones]

Some of the people around my neighborhood. Especially the ones that come visit from the city.

[Kenny Cole]

I live in Norman and work in Oklahoma City. We shut down early yesterday, but I still didn't make it home before the tornado hit. Thankfully for me, the tornado yesterday hit a couple of miles east of where I live. My law partner's sister lost her roof but no one was hurt. Late today and tonight is supposed to be bad.

About eight years ago, my wife and I were trying to get home from work and got trapped on an overpass on I-35 in bumper to bumper traffic. As we sat there with no place to go, a tornado dropped out of the sky and we watched it wipe out part of a neighborhood and a strip mall. After watching that I decided that a safe in my house wasn't the place to house my cards, at least not the really valuable ones.

The bulk of my collection, at least value-wise, now resides in the largest safe deposit box I could rent in a bank vault. It will hurt if my house gets hit and I lose the cards in my safes, but at least I won't lose anything that is real expensive or practically irreplaceable. That safe deposit box is the best investment I ever made for $90/year.

Learned my lesson from my father, he restored classic automobiles. May 18, 1980 Mt. St. Helens erupted here in Washington state (I was 8) and blanketed the Kittitas Valley with 6 inches of ash fallout. I remember the zealots in our community running around yelling about the apocalypse while the ash grey cloud obstructed the sun. It was impossible to drive (the ash would choke air filters and obstruct the carburator), so my father could not get to his shop to check on his cars for a few days.

The wind here rarely stops so the ash was blown everywhere, and into everything. Needless to say the ash covered vehicles inside and outside the shop. Ash, by the way, is extremely abrasive. When he finally got down to the shop, most have his classic automobiles paint jobs were ruined, along with ash in every part of the cars, the engines, interiors, under the spare in the trunk. It was an absolute mess.

Took him the better part of ten years just to get the shop and his collection back into shape. Overall, still a horrible loss. Now, we are both extremely careful with the handling of our respective collections. Safe deposit boxes and garages with massive air curtains, and car covers on every evening.

My thoughts and prayers to those in the Oklahoma area. Be safe.

[kmac32]

We just have earthquakes and wildfires

[4815162342]

My wife!

[atx840]

Originally Posted by 4815162342

My wife!

+1. I recently sold a card to fund a family trip to Hawaii. Now the wife is planning for Mexico. Ughhhh.

[HercDriver]

We just had wildfires last week that came to within 10 miles of my house in the Denver foothills. It killed three people, so they do get pretty big...

Cheers,
Geno