Safes

Ohh, this one is going to be fun! If you’re a history buff, the safe is firmly set on your radar. During the mid-1800s especially, safes were a hot topic, mainly because crime in the U.S. was a hot topic. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were robbing at will, businesses of all sizes were targeted, and folks needed something sturdy and reliable to guard their wares. But prior to this period, towards the end of the 1700s, wrought-iron chests were introduced, and while not marketed as “safes,” people quickly discovered how impenetrable they could be and began to store valued items in them as a result.

Towards the mid-1800s safes became a product onto themselves, featuring a strong outer casing (sheet iron and tin-plate) and an inner lining of the same. The interior of the safe was a composition of sawdust and hardwood mixed with aluminum that was “non-conducting” which would prevent the conduction of heat and a potential fire in the safe. Now, these safes did not prove 100% burglar proof, but we were getting close.

Nowadays safe technology is at another level. Let’s take Vaultek for example, manufacturer of smart safes which feature high-tech functionality that folks in the 1800s likely would have disregarded as sorcery. There are multiple means of entry into a Vaultek safe (key, pin code, biometric) and via an app this bad boy is always linked to you (assuming your smartphone or wearable is always with you as well). A safe like this will run anywhere between $139 and $499.

On the customization side, Brown Safes are an industry leader. These are stand up safes, big in size (picture a stand-up closet) with shelves, drawers, areas for large items and an endless amount of customization. Brown Safes’ Estate Series safes come in plush exterior and interior finishes and feature shelving and drawer lining along with fabrics for the interior walls. Reserved for high rollers, if you’re storing watches, the Orbita automatic watch winder is available (programmable or roto-wind) so you don’t need to fret over whether said time piece will be in good shape once you pull it out. Like the Vaultek safe, entry is via an electronic keypad or biometric fingerprint lock and the mechanical dial, should you want it, is also available.

Finally, we’ve got a real special piece – the Dottling Narcissus. This is so special that the “o” in Dottling should have those two dots above it, but the keyboard doesn’t have that option, only special keyboards do. When you’re already pushing the boundaries of being able to adequately write your name, that’s special stuff!

Conceived by renowned fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, the Narcissus is 6-feet tall, chrome-plated aluminum, and looks more like a piece of installation art than a safe. Once open, the doors swing wide like a butterfly, revealing two handcrafted cabinets with a range of drawers, nooks, crannies and other amazing storage treats. Don’t know what to do with that spare $290,000 you have sitting around? Us either, so let’s make a collective decision – we’re going to splurge on a Narcissus, which might as well be a work of art because only 30 were made. This is both a safe and an investment!

Fun stuff, all great options to keep your goods safe and perhaps even invest in a safe that will bring you future returns. Keeping robbers at bay was never so interesting, was it!