Pocket Sized Treasure Big Responsibility: The Art of keeping a 1g Bar of Gold
And you put it up against the light your glittering prize. The slim 1g bar of gold. It is as small as your finger nail but you feel like a pirate marveling a nugget. The thing is we cannot all afford monthly charges to keep a stability deposit box or a safe vault. OK, how then do you stash it and have it remain invisible to the prying eyes and the fingers of tots and such, not to mention kitchen spills and the nosy house guest?
No need to get into secret agent gimmicks and large vaults of a multi-millionaire. You desire handy, logical short cuts that can be applied to the common household and common pocketbooks. The happy news: at least dozens of different ways to secure your small fortune of shiny golden minis without either making your house as safe as Fort Knox or your hair grey.
Fundamentals: Go back to the Primary Packaging
Bars of gold of high quality mints are nearly always wrapped in tamper-proof assay cards made of hard plastics. In case yours is still well wrapped, keep it so. It is not just a show. The wrap protects the product against scratches and fingerprints, and all essential information is indicated within the package, a serial number, weight, and purity.
In case you have already removed your 1g bar of gold out of its protective shell, put it in acid-free tissue or in a small ziplock bag. Such a small additional measure should save the beauty and value of the bar in case you will sell it in the future.
Home Storage: About the Hiding Game
Tricking Burglars and Mistakes
Unless you live in a flat no one is going in to steal a 1g bar of gold, come on. But the only thing is that it can get lost or stolen as well due to its size. The ruse is in original hiding places. Don t dig up the garden cartoon-style. Better to think of household objects and secluded corners:
In an old vitamin bottle: wash, dry, and put your bar in it. Put it with other vitamins on the cupboard in the bathroom.
Hid under the false bottom of a tea-tin: The old British tin,–but few rummage.
stitched in the hem of a curtain or in the lining of a winter coat: a secure place that would hardly occur to someone.
In a pocket of the bookshelf, held between the leaves of some ancient manual which once was wise: Dolder books have never been blinder.
Stuck beneath a desk: Get retro. Not so much to actually remember it is there.
Whatever place you select, do remember to make one trusted adult at least know where it is. People lose treasure more often than they think through not remembering and not stealing. Discoverers have found coins hidden in the attic by grannie decades later, all because she kept her collection to herself and did not talk about it, hiding it during the Blitz.
Fire, Flood and Household Hazards
Protecting Against Catastrophe: It is not a Lock and Key
The home which is so pleasant to you is awash with arbitrary hazards to a 1g bar of gold. It is fires, floods, even a clumsy vacuum cleaner incident, the threats drop by in the most peculiar manners. Then, consider environmental protection, as well.
Fireproof document pouches: cheap, easy to carry around and not only good to put gold in.
Small fire proof safes: You do not have to get a bank grade safe. With documents, cash, and your bar, the Amazon or B&Q special at less than 40 is quite sufficient.
Waterproof canisters: Properly, what can resist a leakage or even flood is a simple thing like a canister used during the process of camping or even geocaching.
Having your bar in these containers (then concealing that container and not only the bar) should increase your chances twice. This is corset but not belt-and-braces.
The art of Decoying your Loot: A Memory of Things
In case you are genuinely about sneaky fingering burglars, distraction can do miracles. Leave your most boring and not valuable trinkets at all in your most conspicuous hiding place, a jewellery or piggy bank and then hide your 1g bar of gold in a place much less conspicuous.
A decoy is most effective when it is inexpensive, abundant and somewhat valuable. Should housebreakers happen, they are in and out in minutes. They can not inspect every battery container and every plant pot.
Small Safes, the Home Advantage
Where the Security and the Convenience meet
A mini safe house is not a case of overdoing it even in a small bar. Search those models which bolt down to floor or in a wardrobe. Digital safes that are fitted with emergency keys cost roughly between 40-70 and can withstand amateur forced-open attacks. Make it bolted into the ground, mix it in with rest of the household junk, and you have really upped the ante, so to speak, in security.
Record Keeping: So You Do Not Forget or You Do Not Lose Track
Your Safety Net is Proof of Ownership
Do not depend upon memory. Insurance nightmares: loss or theft can make you spend a fortune on insurance you cannot get paid on unless you can prove that you ever owned the gold. Take photos. Write serial numbers. Get scan copies and backup by email. Make two copies of them: one on computer and one print so that in case of fire or hack, there will always be a copy somewhere.
A Balance is What it comes to in the End
Your 1g gold bar is valuable, protect it, and do not go in paranoia. Disregard the castles and booby-traps. Harmless, carefully planned routines keep your treasure safe through years. You do not require a castle to get a good night sleep whether you are hiding it away until a rainy day, to win an upcoming gift, or adding it on another pile.
Simply an imaginative mind, a secure place to hide it and the retention of where you stashed it. Well, and perhaps, perhaps, a nod to your Pirate at heart each time you think of your buried treasure.
