Safe Storage and Safes

How to safely store your Gold, Silver and Coloured Diamonds

A question which we are often asked and one which any sensible buyer would query is “How do I store my valuables safely?”

It doesn’t really matter if it is jewellery, watches, fine art, gold, silver or coloured diamonds. Having worked hard to increase your wealth, and concentrated it into such a compact form of value, you want to make sure its safe and secure.

Strictly from an investment point of view anywhere far from prying eyes and grasping hands is undoubtedly the safest option, BUT many people wish to admire their purchases or at least keep then within easy reach. This presents a conundrum, a conflict of safety versus accessibility. Or does it?

Let me  tackle the different forms of secure storage available to you. Some of which you may not have realised were on offer.

The most obvious and most commonly known form of storage for valuable goods is the bank, not necessarily the bank vault but a safety deposit box at the bank.

It’s advantage is that it is one of the highest levels of security available to you as a private individual.

Its disadvantages are that you pay quite a high fee for its use and are required to declare its contents for “insurance purposes”. For undeclared assets such as diamonds this is clearly counter intuitive. Also the fact that in the recent past when Gold become too valuable the government used the power to repossess all the Gold held in vaults at a set price. The banks capitulated, stripping people of their wealth under the pretence of law. As though you needed another reason at this point, the ability to view, move or change your goods is regulated and restricted.

Bank vault with bullions

An alternate option would be to use a third party vault, a private storage facility with safety deposit boxes owned by an independent company.

It’s advantages are the level of security offered and that you do not have to declare the value or contents of your box. As well, there is a certain level of anonymity available to you as a private customer.

Once again the disadvantages are that you are restricted by opening hours and booking arrangements from collecting or moving your valuables. Also that in the recent past the government has raided these facilities and then required the owners to prove ownership before returning the goods. This was done under the pretence of terrorism.

Our next option is the use of a home safe, which can be wall or floor mounted. There are a plethora of safes available on the market ranging from your small wall mounted key safes to your cupboard size fire proof, bomb proof behemoths.

These fall into two main categories based upon the chosen method of safe keeping. Firstly you have the smaller portable safes which rely upon them not being discovered. Sizes range from as small as an A4 folder up to the size of a bedside cabinet. These can typically weigh up to about 250kg which is about the weight of 3 grown men.

This level of portability has the advantage of allowing you to place the safe almost anywhere and the disadvantage that it can be removed by thieves. Many of the more advanced safes allow you to secure them to a wall or floor, thereby giving a greater level of security.

These safes can be also be fire proof, burglar resistant and have fairly complex locking mechanisms. Prices start from about £50 for the most basic models, up to around £200 for a reasonable fire proof model and £1000’s for a very good model.

The second category of home safe is the “fitted” home safe. A safe specifically designed for you home and installed by professionals. These used to be integral to the building but more advanced levels of security have allowed these to become free standing objects, allowing fitment into any home.

These safes generally start from the size of a bedroom cabinet and can range up to the size of a small room. Weights start from around 250kg and go up to and over 1 tonne (1000kg).

These are the most secure form of home storage and can be purchased with many advanced security mechanisms such as biometric fingerprint readers, silent alarms, and trip switches. This level of safe will be built to VDS or EN specifications to ensure suitability for purpose and meeting criteria that your insurance company will require if you wish to hold very high value goods.

With many to choose from these safes can be hand crafted to fit decor as well as space, allowing you to tailor your safe to your environment rather than the typical image of a dull grey box.

Prices start from £10,000 up to £100,000 or even more, which may sound high, but if you are storing millions of pounds of valuables then it represents less than 1% of the overall price for peace of mind.

These safes are designed to be impregnable allowing them to be placed on display as a distinct piece of furniture within a room. Giving the advantages of accessibility at all times to your valuables whilst providing the highest level of home security available.

Our final option is safety through size. If you only have a small selection of diamonds or Gold then it is very likely that 10s or even 100s of thousands of pounds is a miniscule overall size and therefore could be hidden almost anywhere. Diamonds are obviously exceptionally small but even £50,000 of Gold would make a block no bigger than a mobile phone.

How many places in your house or garden could you hide a mobile phone? Buried in the ground or stashed under a floorboard, hidden in a mattress or at the back of your freezer. The list is endless and your security comes from the fact that no one knows youve got it, let alone the fact they couldn’t find it if they did.