Is Your Precious Collection Insured?
Is Your Precious Collection Insured?
At the beginning of each new year in the U.S. tax time becomes a ticking clock in the background of day to day life and most people find themselves thinking about money. They are forced to face what they have spent in the previous year, consider who may have paid money to them, and to document the value of their investments. For business owners, the items that entered into inventory, or left it, becomes all important.
While shuffling receipts at tax time people often fail to ponder whether they could be at risk for sudden catastrophic loss of the collectible items they have acquired. Not many years ago an important collection of valuable Bakelite jewelry went up in flames when the owner's apartment building burned. The collection had not been insured. Regardless of where you store your collections or shop's inventory is it possible you could lose its total value in an instant - or is it insured?
The safe storage of artifacts anywhere is typically unpredictable. There is always potential for portable objects to be stolen in a burglary or paper items to be destroyed when the sprinkler system malfunctions. Then there are the larger regional phenomenons like floods and earthquakes. Recent world events are sad reminders that we live in an unpredictable environment and a continual state of 'safety' is tragically unreliable.
What you don't know can hurt you
Just as a long-time collector of 19th century silver might display their beautiful and valuable collection inside the bookcase in their den, many on-line dealers who do not also have a brick & mortar store may keep their entire virtual inventory in their home. Whether on perpetual display until sold or kept securely packaged in a box in the closet, collectible items can be at risk to any number of perils. All too often the assumption is made that a homeowner's insurance policy will cover collections of art, antiques, jewelry or other collectibles. But this may not be true.
Many collectors may be blissfully unaware of it but the truth is the content coverage offered under many typical homeowner's insurance policies is only intended to cover personal property types that can more or less be easily replaced, like refrigerators, televisions and linens. In general, they are not structured to cover antiques, art, or certain types of collectibles.
Even if they do offer some coverage household insurance policies may have built-in limitations to that coverage or requirements that must be met. These may pertain to the value of the house, the type of event that caused the loss, or to ability to prove exactly what was owned in the way of personal property before a specific loss will be considered valid. You may feel the celluloid covered photo album full of old family tintypes left to you by Aunt Gertie is extremely valuable. But will your insurance provider agree?.
Some homeowner insurance policies won't cover valuable collectible items like silver, art or fine jewelry, at all, while others may require a separate policy rider and/or additional premium to be paid in order to provide indemnity coverage. If you cannot firmly say for sure that the value of your collection is fully covered, it probably is not.
Here are some steps that can be taken to help ensure the investments you made in collectibles are being protected:
1. Don't throw those receipts away, keep them in a safe place.
Request a seller supply you with a receipt that identifies/describes the item. If bought online, print the item page showing images of it. For antiques and art, in particular, purchase receipts can not only be useful to help establish the original price paid for an item, they can also help to establish provenance. Over a lifetime of collecting this advice may seem unwieldy and impractical, but in a worst-case scenario a receipt that unmistakably identifies the item you purchased may at least allow you the ability to recoup the amount of original investment in an item.
2. Contact your insurance company.
Discuss your collection(s) with your agent and make sure everything you want covered is covered by your current insurance policy. If not fully covered, ask what needs to be done to obtain coverage. There are insurance carriers who specialize in insuring unique collections and individual objects of high value. You may want to look into obtaining a separate policy from one of those if the local insurance carrier through which you have your homeowner's policy does not offer such coverage or the extra premium they require seems very high.
3. Be sure that you know what the insurance company may require of you for proof of loss.
Even if a collection is covered under a current policy that coverage may be limited to what you actually paid for items 15 or 20 years ago, not what the items you own may be worth now. If the value of your collection is high and continuing to rise, then paying for a written appraisal each year and adjusting insurance coverage according to that valuation can help to protect your investment.
A valuation appraisal for the purpose of obtaining insurance should be done by an independent, professional appraiser, not by yourself and not by a dealer friend. The appraisal must be completely free of any bias or the insurer may simply choose to discount the value opinion given in it. Check with your insurance agent to see if they require an appraisal done by a USPAP (Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice) certified appraiser or if they have any other specific requirements such as a video or image archive for documentation.
4. Make an inventory record and keep it in a safe place.
There are several good computer software programs available to which quite detailed information can be added, including images. Whether a collector or a dealer it can make sense to use a software program to manage information about your collections or inventory of antiques, art and collectibles. This is true even if not all of the information it is capable of storing would be required by your insurance company in the event of a loss. The great thing about inventory software programs is that they allow for quick updating of records as new purchases are made or old items in the inventory list are sold.
Having an inventory software program in your computer won't do you any good, of course, if you don't keep records in it up to date or if you don't have a method for storing that record somewhere else. If the same house fire that claims your collection also destroys the computer that holds your inventory records at the same time, for instance, you would be back to square one with your insurance company in regard to proof. Thankfully these days there are a variety of options. Choose from on-line or 'Cloud' storage services, which you can then access from any other location or computer, or copy your files regularly to CD's or flash drives, which can then go from your desk to safer storage in the safety deposit box at the bank.
5. The beginning of the year is an excellent time to check the status of insurance coverage on collections and collectible items in inventory. What You Don't Know About Social Security Disability Insurance and Workers' Compensation Find Out How Effective Hcg Weight Loss Really Is Review of ATT insurance Taking Control Of Your Insurance Orange County Search Designs Plus Primary Advantages Of Pretty Lingerie NFL – AFC North Division review Concerning Ultra Violet H2o Sterilizer For Your Treatment For Water Your Second Chance: Ways to Get Her Back The Fashion for Glow Stick Bracelets and Jewellery by:James Cameron Want A Fresh Look? Try Out These Great Beauty Advice Enjoy One-stop Shopping Of Wholesaling Loose Beads Luxury Experience During Christmas While Staying At St. Pauls London Hotels Ways For Teens to Make Money Online