| Jewelery
safes are safes that are designed to protect
precious jewellery and other valuables from fire and theft.
Jewelery safes are generally more burglary-resistant than
standard home or office safes. They carry a burglary rating,
which gives an indication of how difficult it would be for
a professional burglar to break into the safes.
I often get customers that want to keep "a little
jewelry" in their safe. My wife, Jessica, is not much
of a jewelry person though I am sure with a little practice
she could become one VERY quickly! However, my mother is
a jewelry collector and loves to gather new pieces for her
collection. What my wife has in her entire collection, my
mother will have in one ring. Obviously both need a different
type of jewelry safe for each collection. But before I would
sell a TL 15 to my mother I would want her to talk to her
insurance company about a discount on any "contents
rider policy" she may have on her collection.
An example burglary rating would be a TL-15
rating. A TL-15 rating means that the safe has been tested
to withstand break-in attempts by a professional person
(such as a locksmith), using common hand and power tools,
for at least 15 minutes. While this might not seem like
a very long amount of time, it is an eternity to most burglars
- they rely on a quick in-and-out in order not to be caught,
and as such do not have 15 or even 5 minutes to spend breaking
into a safe. A TL-15 rating is a strong deterrent to burglars.
Models are available with an even stronger TL-30
rating. As a professional side note: I have never met a
locksmith that could break into a TL rated safe in under
1 ½ hours. My personal best is 5 hours. I personally
believe that you could leave tools and instructions on the
safe itself and the average thief still couldn’t get
into it over the weekend.
Most jewelery safes also carry
a fireproof rating. An example fireproof rating would be
a 1-1/2 hour 350 degree F rating. This rating means that
the safe could be exposed to a 1700 degree F fire for a
period of 1-1/2 hours, and that the temperature inside the
safe would not rise above 350 degrees F. This is a low enough
temperature to protect jewelery and other valuables from
permanent damage.
Another factor to consider when choosing jewellery safes
is the type of locking mechanism used. Models are available
with traditional combination dial locks and with electronic
keypad locks. When choosing the traditional combination
dial type look for a more secure 4-number combination. The
electronic keypad lock is much more convenient than the
mechanical dial. The user simply enters the combination
to the safe on a PIN pad, similar to the ones used on many
ATM machines. Look for a LaGard or a Sargent & Greenleaf
keypad when choosing this type of locking mechanism. Also,
some models allow for multiple users to be enrolled with
multiple PIN numbers or combinations.
Also look for jewelery safes that have 1 or more re-locking
mechanisms. These mechanisms help protect the contents by
re-locking the bolt on the safe whenever someone tampers
with the locking mechanism. Another factor to consider when
choosing between jewellery safes is the overall amount of
storage provided - make sure that you choose a model that
provides for growth in your storage needs. Consider choosing
a model that has interior shelving for added convenience.
As you can see, there are a number of factors to consider
when choosing among available models of jewelery
safes. Be sure to consider the burglary rating, the
fire rating, the type of locking mechanism used, and the
overall amount of storage provided by the safe. This will
help to ensure that you choose the jewelery
safe that is right for your needs.
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