Insuring your Collection?

[Rosette]

In general, I'm an adult.  I have two children.  I pay my taxes.  I make sure my vehicle registration is up-to-date.  I buy multi-vitamins.  I even have a life insurance policy.  What I haven't given enough thought to, however, is insuring my MLP collection.  In the case of some catastrophic loss--fire, tornado, or pony-wise thieves--my ponies would only be replaced insofar as my homeowner's insurance would cover general household losses.  Should I have it insured separately?  How much does a collection (of any sort) need to be worth before it makes sense to go to the trouble (and additional expense) to have it insured?

Have you?

If so, how did you establish the value/have your collection appraised?  Do you keep records of your collection, photos or lists or something, in a safe place outside your home?  I'm afraid to admit that I don't.  Sure, I have some photos of some things on Flickr but the bulk of my collection, and record of it even existing, would disappear if my house did.   

Any experience or thoughts would be appreciated.  I don't even know what questions I should be asking. 

Rachel

[lisey_baby]

Ooooo, I'd love to know the answers to this too, I desperately want to insure my collection and have no idea where to begin

[UnicornTamer]

Hmm, I really don't know. I've actually never heard of insuring collections. Sorry, can't help you. Good luck, though!

[Aadra310]

You might check your general house insurance policy.  Sometimes, there's an amount in there for "collectibles."  I'm a little fuzzy on the details (my hubby handles the insurance!), but I think my homeowner's policy has a cap at $3000 for collectible memorabilia.  I know you can add more coverage depending on what you have in your house (jewelry, firearms, antiques, etc).

I actually have a powerpoint slideshow of my entire collection that I put on a thumb drive and gave to my mom just in case something happens at my house. 

That wasn't much help, but maybe a place to start!

[lisey_baby]

I've just remembered that I have a Toy Insurance company down the road from me. I'll have to see if they are still there and see what they say about ponies. Won't be able to get there before Saturday though. Will let you all know what they say if they are still going/open

[Rosette]

I actually have a powerpoint slideshow of my entire collection that I put on a thumb drive and gave to my mom just in case something happens at my house. 

That's a really smart idea.  I hadn't considered something like a digital copy.  (I'm slow-tech). 

Anybody here have an insured collection, outside of what your homeowner insurance covers automatically?  Any comments, thoughts, suggestions, or experiences?

Or, worse, has anyone lost a collection and gone through the process of having insurance cover (or not cover) the loss?

[hathorcat]

I am in the middle of trying to agree a policy just for my collection. Sometimes its worrying how much money you have spent when you look back But policies themselves for any kind of "collectable" can be incredibly high simply as often items are deemed "irreplaceable" and the whole process has been and continues to be difficult.

There are quite a few brokers and toy/collectable specialist insurers out there but its not like being able to compare lots of quotations as there are so few of them - which makes it a premium insurance policy. Also many of them are used to dealing with "common" collectables - think the merch from a certain 60s band, toy train collections or stamps - and 80s plastic ponies are a new one. 

Part of the issue is valuation because as you know there are not actual "pony valuers"...but at the same time auction prices from ebay [i.e. the price we pay for a pony] are not necessarily right as sometimes we pay too little and sometimes we pay too much. So an ebay price for that amazing 99p BIN Rapunzel undervalues her in your collection and likewise if we pay £80 for a Baby Gusty [for whatever reason - bidder war or just that we "must have her"] thats not a fair price either.

When I spoke to an insurer they asked for a breakdown of everything - a total for each "item" [1 item would be Red Roses with her ribbon, barrette and comb]. Personally I have gone with "valuations" on what the item sells at - i.e. an ebay search and a search here will give you an average for her price [although this is prone to change maybe its just that you will have to adjust value over the years - as with many collectable items what they are "worth" in 2003 may not be the same as in 2013]. The key is surely to simply insure for the total value of the collection and get documentation on the number of ponies and items within that collection in order to "justify" that total valuation. Individual insurance companies will no doubt look on this differently. Its a lot of work but you will probably need to take an individual picture of each "item", number the picture, add the "value" against the number on a spreadsheet and that is what a specialist insurance company could expect.

[kellyponyfeathers]

Cat, you are one cool kitty. Thanks for the info; I need to do this one of these days (preferably before the house I'm renting now slides down the hill *rolls eyes*). And yes, I'm sort of scared to look back and see just how much I've spent over the last couple years.

[Sarah-Bee]

I've found a few specific toy collection insurers and also a general home insurance policy that covers my collection (the policy I bought) but they're in the UK so unfortunately won't be any use to the OP :/

[Rosette]

I never knew such a thing as a toy specialty insurer even existed.  I'll have to look into that.  It seems that first, though, it would behoove me to make a complete and accurate accounting of my collection. 

Anyone else have any first-hand experience with this?

[hathorcat]

I never knew such a thing as a toy specialty insurer even existed.  I'll have to look into that.  It seems that first, though, it would behoove me to make a complete and accurate accounting of my collection. 

Anyone else have any first-hand experience with this?

One of my friends has the most incredible Barbie collection - she has whole rooms dedicated to her collection and I cant even imagine the value - she lives in Maine so I asked her who she used, as I have no doubt she has had to insure her collection - here is where she mentioned - http://www.americancollectors.com - she says the can be expensive [as most specialist insurers are] but they are specialist enough to be comfortable ensuring most "collectable" items. They even understand the concept of MIB items and scale of values for rarer pieces.

And as to the accurate accounting - I have been trying to do this for about a year I intended to use my website as an online guide to what I have so that I can keep track and use that as an inventory for insurers but alas at this stage I am still only about a 1/4 of my way through my collection. It takes a tremendous amount of time to picture everything and accurately gauge current value.

[Radiance]

My homeowner's policy covers my doll collection. I need to look into specialty insurance though because my doll collection has grown, and because I've since started collecting ponies. I guess for starters see if your homeowner's or renter's insurance covers collectibles and add that to your policy, then once you've inventoried your collection go for the specialty insurance.

[Rosette]

I never knew such a thing as a toy specialty insurer even existed.  I'll have to look into that.  It seems that first, though, it would behoove me to make a complete and accurate accounting of my collection. 

Anyone else have any first-hand experience with this?

One of my friends has the most incredible Barbie collection - she has whole rooms dedicated to her collection and I cant even imagine the value - she lives in Maine so I asked her who she used, as I have no doubt she has had to insure her collection - here is where she mentioned - http://www.americancollectors.com - she says the can be expensive [as most specialist insurers are] but they are specialist enough to be comfortable ensuring most "collectable" items

Thank you for the referral! 

[Stormness_1]

I'm going to bump this, because I want to follow people's responses to this topic, and I think it's an important one for all of us collectors. My collection is mostly commons, but some of my ponies are relatively htf, and I'm starting to wonder about insurance for them, as I need to get other insurance/cover stuff in order and wanted to sort everything all at the same time.

I'll have a look into some aus/nz insurers when I get around to it and post anything I find (if I can find anything) here.

I'll be photographing them all individually on Sunday, and starting the valuation process... ho-ly cow that's gonna be a loooong day! I think an annual update on valuations would be fine, just like with the house. I know my FIL has just increased his home insurance to cover the home theatre with all his movie memorabilia.. so I'm thinking I'll ask him about it too, he's bound to have researched the thing to death!