e-letters April 19, 2023

How big of a concern is safety/security to you? Why?

I am very concerned for my safety/security when attending even a minor coin show.

I believe that there should be a photo I.D. check-in when going in to the show and that there should be an off-duty, uniformed police presence at the check-in point.

George Kissinger
Spooner, Wis.

Very concerned.

Name and address withheld

Safety and security is of a major concern to me because I spend time and money on my collection and don't want to lose it to a thief.

Dave Burdis
Charleroi, Pa.

Being a collector attending shows, to purchase or sell coins, I always travel with a group of collector friends. We park adjacent to the show in well-lit and easily accessible areas. That said, we are always aware of our surroundings. The old adage, "don't walk down a dark alley at night in an area you don't know," still applies. Safety/security is always a consideration. Always be vigilant.

Lorne Lavertu
Herndon, Va.

I have had two occasions when coins were mailed but not received, and I can only conclude they were stolen in the mail.

On one occasion, I was going through my foreign coins and pulled out about 75 common date circulated coins that were duplicates. I decided my grandchildren might enjoy them so I put them in a plastic P.O. mailing envelope and put that in a cardboard flat rate box. They never arrived.

On the other occasion, my brother and his wife were traveling in the Middle East and saved some foreign coins and mailed them to me. They were in a small paper envelope inside a larger paper envelope. When I received his letter, the envelope had been neatly sliced open and the coins were gone.

In both cases the coins were never found. They were not valuable like the coins in your story but when run through an x-ray security device, I guess all coins look the same.

Moral of the story: Buy insurance when mailing anything of value. I am confident 99 percent of postal employees are honest but I believe, based on my experience, that theft does occur. And when it does, there is no way to determine what happened or where. Gone is gone.

George Greene
Address withheld

I think security is on everyone’s mind these days. Just watch the 5 p.m. or 10 p.m. news. But I don’t travel among known high-crime neighborhoods. However, more than a decade ago, when the International Paper Money Show was held in downtown Memphis, I attended and felt some concern just getting into the huge underground parking garage. The elevators to show level were in the secluded corners of the garage. Anyone could accost a patron just walking from car to elevator or vice-versa. I don’t recall seeing security in the garage. A dimly lit place and kind of unnerving.

William Smith
Somerville, Tenn.

Safety is extremely important to me. That's why I have three safes for storage of my various collections.

Name and address withheld

Kind of a deal, but not a lot because I have my good coins hidden.

Conner Hopfer
Address withheld

Security is indeed a major concern. With so many transactions happening remotely, there is greater reliance on the USPS. My experience has been that the post office regularly loses packages, and in more than one occasion the P.O. investigation resulted only in a claim that the package was delivered and must have been stolen after they delivered it, which I knew was false. Even with packages where signature verification was paid for, the carrier failed to get a signature and left the package outside. In one case, the carrier signed my name and left it outside.

David T
Salem, N.H.

Very important. I once had a majority of my collection stolen. Luckily, I had started an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of my collection. My reason at the time was to prevent buying duplicates of what I already had, but it turned out to be a huge benefit in recovering my stolen coins. As the coins were recovered, I was able to meet with the police department and identify each coin by date and mintmark. Now I keep all my coins in a locked safe. I still keep my spreadsheets up to date also.

Daryl Conley
New Mexico

I don't feel I can share my hobby with people. Word gets out you have a collection and that may invite unwelcomed guests to your house!

Name and address withheld