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Storing comics in a closet vs. a gun safe
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15 posts in this topic

Four months ago I purchased a 32 cubic foot AMSEC gun safe (750 lbs empty and bolted to my floor) with the intent of placing a my cameras, their lenses, a few guns, emergency cash, etc. and wondered if it would be a good idea to store my slabbed comics in it as well.

 

The safe has the humidity (monitored digitally) kept in check via a electric de-humidifier and random descant packages thrown around on the inside. I also like the added theft and fire protection too, but can I store my books in there? I have heard, from a board member on here, that the fire-proofing materials in the safe may cause my comic books to deteriorate (mainly cause the staples to rust) much faster than normal. However, I have not been able to find any definitive proof for or against this claim online... no test results or even articles about this topic (If you know some, please reach out to me).

 

My best source to date is my LCS owner who told me he can't think of a reason to not store my books in there if it is kept dark, temp controlled, and humidity controlled. He is an old school purist and doesn't like slabbing books, but he did tell me he stores his key books in a fire-proof filing cabinet he bought from a friend of his several years back.

 

I am hoping that someone can direct me to some definitive answers about storing books in a fireproof safe, but would also like to see what the boards in general feel about this topic. Have you, or anyone you know, had any experiences, good or bad, with storing books in a fire-proof safe?

 

I would like the added security and peace of mind of storing my books in my safe as opposed to having them boxed in my closet (especially when I travel for work), but I would rather not put them in there if there is any chance of speeding up their natural deterioration. Thanks in advance for any help or insight.

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Hello,

 

Please check the 'ASK CGC' page and look five threads down; you will see a post called 'Important information about CGC comics and safes...'

 

Please take this information to heart. A great and well know collector was willing to share this information with the comic collecting community. We owe this person a lot of gratitude.

 

Again, I must state; for what a safe costs, you could easily get a climate controlled self storage unit (for a few years) or rent a safe deposit box for much less. I have seen people (even neighbors) spend $8,000+ on a safe only to have the WHOLE safe stolen (and no, size and weight do not matter).

 

I am not like most people; as I don't have a need to have these items lying around my house, even if they are 'locked up' and I have a state of the art alarm system. It just is not worth the risk; to me. That being said, I fully understand the opposite point of view and highly respect that opinion for what it's worth.

 

Please read the article. It may just save you down the road. Whatever you decide I wish you the best of luck.

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I remember reading someone else on the board tslking acout the same thing, fireproofing chemicals of gun safes causing staples to rust.

 

I too would like clarification on this. I'm also wondering if safety deposit boxes have issues, since that's where I keep my expensive coins and comics.

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I am not like most people; as I don't have a need to have these items lying around my house, even if they are 'locked up' and I have a state of the art alarm system. It just is not worth the risk; to me. That being said, I fully understand the opposite point of view and highly respect that opinion for what it's worth.

 

I dunno - I have to agree with this statement. If I had valuable enough books to necessitate an entire safe to store them - I'd probably have them in a safety deposit box. I wouldn't keep anything mega-valuable stored inside my house.

 

But, back on topic - the question I have is why the preference of a large fire safe compared to a large gun safe?

 

According to this fire safe article , there were 389,000 home fires reported in 2008. According to the US Census, in 2010 there are 131,704,730 homes in the US - using those two figures (despite the variance of the two years data), that is 0.29% of homes succumbed to fire. That seems pretty long odds for fire.

 

A four-drawer legal-sized fire safe is $4,460. And it's not waterproof. I watched a building burn downtown where I work and saw fireman put water on it for 12 hours because of the heat. And it's not like the owner of the building was able to walk through and pull out his valuables. I'm going to guess that if your house burns to the ground, the biggest, largest, longest rated fire safe might not hold up to the heat (especially if it's in the basement where the structure would collapse, taking the slow-burning heat with it) and even if it did - I can't imagine that the residual heat wouldn't damage the books, nor the amount of water used to put out a fire would not make it's way into the safe.

 

If the desire for a safe is simply peace of mind - I would guess a big gun safe with a de-humidifier bolted to the cement from the inside might be the best financial choice? Slap on an insurance rider for your books and that might be enough coverage?

 

Or, if you have $4000-$8000 for a safe, maybe considering a lockbox type of room that is completely insulated and waterproofed might be the better choice. An aquaintance of mine had one formed into his house when he had the foundation done. It was a separate all-cement room that he raised 6 or 8" above the floor and put a commercial-grade steel exterior door on - he didn't collect comics, but he had lots of coins, gold, guns and things of that nature.

 

 

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Dehumidifiers are a must obviously, but you should also consider this product as well.

 

Bullfrog emitter shield

 

It's very cheap and by all accounts seems to work as I've not had any issues at all thus far (although I have not tested the rust protection without dessicant-based dehumidifiers present).

 

These are the dehumidifiers I use. Very easy to recharge. My particular units are Remington branded, but it's the same product.

 

Mini rechargable dehumidiers

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On 11/13/2011 at 3:35 PM, USArmyParatrooper said:

I remember reading someone else on the board tslking acout the same thing, fireproofing chemicals of gun safes causing staples to rust.

 

I too would like clarification on this. I'm also wondering if safety deposit boxes have issues, since that's where I keep my expensive coins and comics.

Yep there's a thread on here where someone posted an Incredible Hulk 181 with both staples rusted completely, which migrated towards the interior pages as well to the back cover. 

I'd be very careful about storing comics in a fireproof safe. I don't know all the details about it, but definitely do you research and/or ask the manufacturer about it.

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3 minutes ago, Dark Knight said:

Yep there's a thread on here where someone posted an Incredible Hulk 181 with both staples rusted completely, which migrated towards the interior pages as well to the back cover. 

I'd be very careful about storing comics in a fireproof safe. I don't know all the details about it, but definitely do you research and/or ask the manufacturer about it.

:baiting: You're quoting a post from 7 years ago !

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15 minutes ago, Bomber-Bob said:

:baiting: You're quoting a post from 7 years ago !

It's been 7 years already!? :whatthe:. Thought it was just 4 years ago. Well unless the specifications for gun safes have changed than it may not apply in this situation but it did happen.

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15 minutes ago, Dark Knight said:

It's been 7 years already!? :whatthe:. Thought it was just 4 years ago. Well unless the specifications for gun safes have changed than it may not apply in this situation but it did happen.

Oh yes, I remember seeing the pics. Horrible, gave me nightmares. I still say something else was going on with the safe. Something additional was introduced into the environment. It happened too quickly and the staples were nearly disintegrated to dust. I don't believe anyone else has experienced this in all the years since. I've had a gun safe with comics in it for getting close to 20 years. I keep some staples in an ash tray in the safe to monitor. 

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I have a small collection of antique safes and was thinkingof having CGC slab them, what do you think?

 

Also dont store comics in safes, there's not enough air. I tried this last year and almost killed Sinbad.

Edited by miraclemet
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