Insurance for Antiques and Collectibles
I don't know how many times I've talked to customers and clients and asked them whether their collections were insured, only to have them respond that it was covered under their Homeowners' Insurance policy. When I probed a bit more, I found that they just ASSUMED that their items were covered - they had never discussed it with their agents, and had no special schedules or riders to make sure their collections were indeed insured.
The sad news is that in most cases Homeowners' Insurance will NOT cover your collections. That's not what they were means to do. They were designed to cover buildings, household goods, and ordinary personal property. Your premiums were based on the costs of insuring these types of items. But if you had an extensive high grade comic collection (or even just a high grade Superman #1!), or Native American baskets, or old Lionel trains, the odds are that your insurance company will NOT cover their loss.
There may be some partial coverage through your broad policy, but it may be limited to a percent of the total value of your home (perhaps only 50 - 70%). Or they may only pay a certain amount for theft of valuable items like oriental rugs, silver, crystal, guns, stamps, and paper documents. Losses due to flood, hurricane and earthquake may not be covered at all, depending on your coverage package - and this could include your home! If there is coverage, often it is based on actual cash value rather than the collectible value of the item(s) which means you will get almost nothing. They may require you to individually list or "schedule" all items, and if you can't produce a detailed list - preferably with descriptions and photos - you are out of luck. Finally, none of them will cover accidental breakage of your valuable collectible item.
When I wanted to insure my collections some years ago, I discovered that most mainstream insurers who offered homeowners' insurance did NOT offer antiques or collectibles insurance. However, there are specialized insurers who do nothing but deal in the insurance and collectibles markets, and this is where you'll need to get coverage. Your insurance agent probably will try to talk you out of it because he or she isn't going to get a commission, but unless they can provide you with the policy you need, tough luck for them.
One such company is Collectibles Insurance Services (http://www.collectinsure.com), which only insures collectibles. This is all they do. You can insure your dolls, stamps, vintage Hot Wheels, wooden toys, license plates, weapons, antiques of all kinds, comic books, and much more. It is worth your while to explore their website for more information.
Another company is American Collectors Insurance (http://www.americancollectors.com/) which offers general collectibles insurance and specializes in classic cars and motorcycles.
If you belong to a collectors' club, check to see if there is an insurance service offered to members. Quite a few national groups have contracted with collectibles' insurers to offer the membership very competitive services. One such group is the Historic Firearms & Collectibles Insurance Program (http://http://historicfirearms.com/) which covers Firearms, Uniforms, Battle flags, Swords, Fine Arts, Historic Artifacts, Memorabilia, etc.
You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain, by checking it out. You'll find that two of the biggest reasons why people don't bother to get insurance - time needed to inventory the collection and cost of the insurance - are not prohibitive. Most programs don't require an item-by-item inventory (although you should have one anyway!), and the premiums are surprisingly affordable. If you think of the heartbreaks and financial losses that you can avoid by insuring your collections, you'll agree that it's worth making a bit of an effort.
Note: insurance programs and companies mentioned here are listed for informational purposes and do not represent an endorsement or recommendation for any of the companies or their services. Great Estates LLC and its management is not affiliated in any way with these companies and receives no monetary or any other compensation from them.
