How to Ensure Safety of Your US Gold Coins

Wayland, Maine, police made an important revelation in the first week of November about a burglary that occurred in September. According to Wayland Police Detective Ruth Backman, Alexander Farnsworth (25), a resident of Fitchburg, stole US gold coins valued at $75,000 from a Wayland based coin collector from his Sears Road home. The owner had hired some men for certain chores in his house and Farnsworth was one of them. Farnsworth is already dead now, so police cannot question him. However, few days before his death he was arrested on charges of possession of drugs and a gun by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency and the Lincoln County Sheriff’s office in Maine. Backman was reported by the sheriff’s office that during his arrest Farnsworth was carrying many gold coins. Farnsworth had already sold some coins while many are still missing. The missing coins include four gold Canadian coins, 12 gold Olympic commemorative coins, six silver goblets and a double-eagle gold coin.

gold coins safetyUS Gold Coins: Best Places to Store Them

If you are planning on acquiring in US gold coins, you must think about where you will be storing them. While security is a concern, the location should also be a place where you can easily access the coins.

Your Home: If you have small quantities of US gold coins, you can store them in your home. However, avoid obvious locations, such as a cash drawer or jewelry box. You need to be creative with identifying a safe place that would not easily occur to a thief. For instance, empty books are a good option to keep your small size valuables. However, before you hide them in a secret place in your house you need to consider two things:

  • You should not forget where you had hidden your US mint gold coins.
  • The place you have chosen should be fire and flood proof.

Safe Deposit Box: This is, no doubt, one of the safest options to hide your precious metal coins or bars. Almost every bank offers sage deposit boxes where you can safeguard your valuables, including cash, jewelry, wills and rare gold coins. However, there are a few considerations that you must bear in mind:

  • Your access to your coins will be limited to banking hours. So you cannot get hold of them whenever you want.
  • If a bank robbery occurs, you can lose your gold coins and would not even be able to make any effort to save them.
  • Although it is not likely to happen, what if the government decides to confiscate all the gold coins as it did in 1933. Since the government can access your safe deposit box, there is nothing that you will be able to do. So, privacy is a concern.

Bury Your Coins: Since our childhood, we have been hearing stories of burying your treasure by digging a hole in the backyard. This method actually works very well. However, you must do this when it is dark, so that no one notices your hiding place. Also, it is important that you remember exactly where you buried your coins. The coins should be put inside an air tight container after being wrapped in a plastic cover to save them from scratches. These must be buried at least four feet under the ground so that metal detectors cannot detect them easily.

There are pros and cons of every secure location. You must think of all the alternatives very carefully before you make the choice, if you do not wish another Farnsworth to take away your US gold coins.