Gold Wonder Questions!
Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2017 6:05 am
If a safe that has gold bars and cash is in a house fire where the internal
temp of the safe was hot enough to burn up cash, pictures, and documents,
how would the gold fare? If it became even hotter, is the gold value inside
the safe compromised?
Typical house fire temperatures do not exceed 1200F. The melting point of gold
is 1948 F. The gold will be safe. Even if the temperature were somehow to rise
to the melt the gold, it would just melt and soldify afrer cooling… maybe some
solidiified puddles to collect, but the value of the gold would be intact,
although the owner may need to have the purity re-certified. I think Tom pretty
much covered this. Even after a fire, you would still be left with just as many
oz of gold as you had before the fire. If it did get hot enough to melt the coins,
and they ended up in a clump, you would have lost a little bit on the selling
power of a coin vs. a clump, now, of gold. But look on the bright side, you paper
currency would be 100% gone. If you are concerned about the safety of your metal
stored at home, which can be for several different reasons, look into the low
fees of storing at a depository, which is still better than putting your silver
and gold in a safety deposit box at your bank. You would lose value if the paperwork
was certificates but the gold would be saleable still. If the gold melted then
you only have scrap value but there would still be value left in the material.
temp of the safe was hot enough to burn up cash, pictures, and documents,
how would the gold fare? If it became even hotter, is the gold value inside
the safe compromised?
Typical house fire temperatures do not exceed 1200F. The melting point of gold
is 1948 F. The gold will be safe. Even if the temperature were somehow to rise
to the melt the gold, it would just melt and soldify afrer cooling… maybe some
solidiified puddles to collect, but the value of the gold would be intact,
although the owner may need to have the purity re-certified. I think Tom pretty
much covered this. Even after a fire, you would still be left with just as many
oz of gold as you had before the fire. If it did get hot enough to melt the coins,
and they ended up in a clump, you would have lost a little bit on the selling
power of a coin vs. a clump, now, of gold. But look on the bright side, you paper
currency would be 100% gone. If you are concerned about the safety of your metal
stored at home, which can be for several different reasons, look into the low
fees of storing at a depository, which is still better than putting your silver
and gold in a safety deposit box at your bank. You would lose value if the paperwork
was certificates but the gold would be saleable still. If the gold melted then
you only have scrap value but there would still be value left in the material.