I’m not gonna pretend to know a ton about the subject. But I know a little from knowing antiques dealers. Apparently the most valuable safes are rather ornate outside. And bear the logos of particular companies. Either the company that made it or the company that used it. So a relatively normal safe marked “Wells Fargo” can be worth more than a complicated safe with no markings.
Rob’s isn’t that. But it is around the right size, and at least a little complicated inside. 2nd door, multiple drawers/cubbies. And the safe cracker described the main lock thusly:
Depending on what he meant by unusual and what exact lock it is that could mean its something sort of rare. Which is the sort of thing that bumps up valuations on this nonsense.
Despite know that sort of general BS. I have no clue what these things are actually worth in working shape. Though they are fucking expensive in antique shops near here where old tchotchkes are massively inflated.
And yet I’ve seen them rusting outdoors outside a local locksmith…so much of worth is relative. If you can get people to believe something has value, then it does.
One safe cracker I talked to a few years back said that due to the number of bank closures that used walk-in bank vault doors were available for $5-10,000. Now there’s a front door that would be a real conversation starter - leading to multiple break-ins through your windows. But still, a bank vault as a front door. Plus, you could tell your boss you can’t come in early because the time lock on the vault door doesn’t unlock until 9am.
But now it is drilled. Can you repair and reset the combination? I have a safe that looks almost exactly like that in the shop, except that it still has a fancy paint job. I use it to store the materials for gold and silver inlay and plating.
Having good safes means that you don’t really have to worry about the contents when you are not there. That seems obvious, but the stress reduction is a big factor. Even if it is just sentimental items, like photo albums.
I’m always surprised what people will pay money for. The big difficulty with that sort of thing is accessing those people. Which you often can’t do. The people who can have to make a living, so they can’t pay you what something is worth. Since they have to sell it for what it’s worth.
But there’s always weird things hanging around you can get surprising value out of. Antique stores around here trolley yard sales for foam fishing bouys. When you buy them new they’re a couple bucks. Once they’re suitably “vintage” they go at yard sales for like $5. Find them in certain antique shops and they’re like $40. These are literally trash. We used to hang them on the fence, for storage. Then throw them out when they got too old. Now its “rustic” and stylish to hang them on the fence.
But noone in say, New Mexico, is decorating their house in a New England maritime style. So there they’d still be trash. If you had a bunch of those in New Mexico. You’re certainly not getting them to the NYC area at $35 markup. So they’re still trash. But the guy who can get them to NY and sell them at $40 a piece will give you $2 bucks a pop for that trash
He completely dismantled the locking mechanism and reassembled it with a new combination.
I’m planning on putting it to use! several inches of iron and concrete are apparently good enough firebreak, and no-one’s picking it up and walking off with it…
I’m even tempted to drill a hole in the bottom and put a NAS in it, but I figure a wristwatch would overheat in there, so maybe not.
Vault doors can be had on site for a huge savings on original cost, but transport can be a killer. I put one in a couple of years ago, and it was a huge big deal to move, and almost impossible to install properly. I say that as a person who owns heavy equipment, including very high capacity cutting and welding gear, and lots of hydraulic rams and such. I would never have imagined how much work it was. And I also started with a very sturdy wall to mount it in.
Found a safe in my closet, it was buried deep behind
Lots of shoes and some shirts and a pair of green pants
And a blazer that wasn’t lined
Now I’ve looked all over, but the combination I cannot find
So if you read Boing Boing and you have an idea
Post it here if you’re so inclined
Cut the hinge with a grinder? Or maybe just pick the lock?
I could thread det cord through a hole in gypboard
With some C-4 in a block
This safe, gotta crack it, if I don’t nobody will
'Cause no one on Boing Boing is thinking of going
To buy me a diamond drill
Say, oxy lance, oxy lance, turn the safe into charcoal
Oxy lance, oxy lance, burn a big giant hole
When I finally crack it, wonder what I’ll find inside
Maybe gold doubloons or a rock from the Moon
Or a photo that Elvis signed
Say, what if it’s full of sand, like The Ark of the Covenant
My head might explode so I think I’ll unload
This safe to the government
Not a chance, not a chance, never gonna open it
Not a chance, not a chance, let Top Men work on it
This has got me seriously thinking very bad things like “how small is the smallest heat exchanger?” and how effective the iron interior is as a heatsink.
We watched “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot” recently. entertaining, but I think it would be a good way to get lots of pieces of steel and concrete stuck in your face.
