Putting A Value On Complete Sets

You ask a very good question - especially about coins picked from circulation that may have gone up in value. I have read in other threads that when giving the estimated value to insurance companies, they more or less accept what you give them.

However, if you should ever make a claim, you have to come up with evidence - receipts, etc.

What about those Frankies you may have pulled from circulation during the 1960's - they cost you $0.50 and now.....

As I said, good question. I will certainly stay tuned.

I used to do jewelry replacement for insurance companies about 15 years ago, please give me a moment to explain, you will see the connection.

Many jewelery stores offer 50 to 75 percent off on jewelery, but give you appraisals for the "regular" price. Insurance companies used to just cut checks for the values on the appraisals until they figured out that very few people were paying or jewelers were selling at the appraised value.

So what they do now is something called "making you whole again" which means replacing what you lost with like kind or fair market value. If you have a receipt, then no problem, they will pay you the stated amount on your receipt, if you only have an appraisal, they will replace with "like kind".

Example, you lost a 1 carat diamond, you don't get the 10,000 on your appraisal, you don't even get the 5,000 you paid, (unless you have the receipt), you get another 1 carat diamond. This is where I used to come in. We would charge the insurance company wholesale instead of retail to replace the diamond, meaning they would win twice, by also paying wholesale instead of retail. Meaning they collected premiums at 10,000 value per year but only had to pay out 3,000 on the loss to buy a new diamond.

There is only one way and only one way around this if you do not have current receipts for todays values. PICTURES, take tons and tons of pictures. you cannot take too many pictures, trust me. Remember what I said above, they have to make you whole again.

If you have pictures of your coins, they have to replace every single coin in your collection, in the same condition that you have a picture of. They have no choice if you have pictures.

Now think how long it took you to put your sets together......There is no way the insurance company will take the time, nor be able to put these sets back together in any reasonable amount of time. Therefore they will have to pay you your appraised value by default.

Sorry this is so long winded, I wanted to explain how the system works a bit instead of just saying, take pictures.

Hope this helps
John

I am of the belief that if a claim is made ALL insurance companies have "a list of 500 reasons why you are not covered".I think that taking pictures of your collection is a great idea.I was informed that by placing your collection on your "home owners insurance" is the best way to cover your self.I would be open to hearing more on this subject as I know there are many of "us" that have a collection or two worth insuring!!

Wow! Great advice and a great excuse for me to "cozy up" to my coins for a while as I take a bunch of digital photos! Thanks jpol!

Insurance policies are contracts. The terms of any policy can vary.
Best thing if you want insurance, is to know what you would want to recover if there was a loss of your personal property and explain that to a good insurance agent.
Best place to probably go is to an independent agent who has several different companies he is licensed with to quote you a price.
I was an Insurance agent in a family business long ago and worked for Mom and Pop with my brother.
I am sure that there have been changes since then and probably some investigation with an insurance agency would be the best way to go.

jpol - Welcome to CC! Sage advice!

Thank you for sharing and to the Community!

Almost all homeowners policies are HORRIBLE for collections of any type. What is the deductible on your policy, $1000? $2500? $5000? Most companies want a ridiculous amount of detailed information, professional(read- you have to pay for it)appraisals, etc and some companies will only treat it as a face value cash reimbursement.

There are companies that specialize in insuring collectibles and they are generally the best people to have that kind of insurance with. ANA members are entitled to discounted group rates through Hugh Wood.