What Do You Do About Insuring Your Collection?

I also use Hugh Wood. When I asked, they recommended coverage at no more than 60-70% of catalogue value. I kep a running Excel inventory of all albums and scans of anything of significant value. When shipping something for certification, I scan everything along with the paperwork as proof of what I sent.

Does Hugh Wood insurance also cover reference materials? Many serious collector have thousand and thousand of dollars invested in reference books and catalogs; some as rare as many stamps and covers.
If not, do hobbyists need to revisit their home owners insurance and add additional riders to cover this? Has anyone done discovery on this?
Don

60-70 % of cv for a lot of items does not begin to reflect real market value. I assume that they will abide by receipts? A question for them when I contact.

I'm another who uses Hugh Wood. My understanding (probably wrong) is that in the event of a claim they pay what you insured it for. I collect U.S., and most of my collection that is valued over $100 comes with a cert from either Philatelic Foundation or PSE. I keep the certs in a separate area and feel that these would serve as proof of value in the event of a loss. Additionally my daughter, who lives apart from me, has a notebook in which I have described the stamps in my Davo Vol 1 album (probably 90% of the value of my collection). The description includes their cert numbers. Finally, I have original receipts for the bulk of my collection in another separate location in my home. At one time, many years ago, I separated out the high value stamps in my collection, placed them in individual glassine, put them in a box and that went into a safe deposit box. Later I decided that in doing that the thieves had won so I took them out and got the insurance. The only other reasonable thing I think I could do is to photograph/video the entire collection.

I have a rider on my Home Contents Insurance (Australia)
for $5,000 stamp collection.
Not indicative of my collections value, but a start to get going again, if the unforseeen should occur.

I do not recall any extra charge for the insurers acceptance.

Don, to answer your question, Collectibles Insurance does cover the library as well as the stamps. Considering I have over 450 books, several long or complete runs of journals and numerous manuscripts, this was a question I asked.

The most important thing in any collection is to document what you have. I have Excel spreadsheets for both the collection and the reference material.

I have a scan of every stamp in the collection, whether it's .25 or $1,000. If I should ever have need of filing a claim, I'm well documented.

Am I particularly concerned about theft? Nah. It's the possibility of fire or water damage I would be most concerned about.

Your homeowner's policy is worthless for collectibles. They will usually cover $2500.00 and that is it. If you want to add a rider, expect to have to get a formal written appraisal and then pay more than you would with either Hugh Wood or Collectibles Insurance. Neither of these want an appraisal, only certification for any item valued at $2,500 or more (in the case of Collectibles Insurance).

I've had my collection insured with Hugh Wood for many years. Sadly, I'm a bit underinsured at the moment, just based on my documentation of what I've spent, let alone actual market or replacement value. They only require itemization for pieces above a certain value threshold; I can't recall whether it is $5,000 or $25,000... for some reason those two numbers are peeking out of my memory. I don't have the written policy handy at the moment.

The second year I had my policy, I had to make a claim for a dealer shipment lost in transit. Hugh Wood paid without issue, and my rates did not increase.

If you are located in the U.S., I do *NOT* recommend insuring any collectible via a rider on your homeowner's insurance policy. Depending on the company (they're not all above board), you could find yourself with your homeowner's policy cancelled or rates driven up just because you filed a claim on the collectibles rider. It's not worth the risk.

Interesting thread - at present, my collection is not separately insured. But I keep, like others, an inventory of all I have, stamps and other philatelic items like FDCs and MCs, also of picture postcards that I may have added for interest.Where I don't have a catalog value, such as with the picture postcards, I put in price paid. I also update catalog values at the end of the year, using my Michel subscription. I used to have one for Stanley Gibbon but found that their on-line catalog was not updated frequently enough; as well, Michel catalogs more items. But a nice feature of SG was that it calculated total catalog value, which gives you an idea of value to insure. But I have not done it yet -at my age, should the house burn down or similar, I don't think I could start all over again even if I could replace everything. But I suppose I would have some money in hand from a pay out - maybe I should look again.

Possibly good advice, however mine is a Government Defence Force Veterans Insurance, I'll take the risk.

Good point. I've edited my post to reflect the recommendation for people in the U.S., as insurance policies and practices in other countries may be completely different.

I've used Hugh Wood since they became a member benefit of the APS. Never had a claim. I've never asked about having my philatelic library covered. I have around 1,200 books in my personal collection and the several dozen philatelic books kind of "disappear" within it.

revenuecollector raises a good point about insurance company riders. One never knows what a company will do to manage their risk. In 2013, I paid a higher rate on a travel policy to Argentina. I was going climbing. The company didn't care that I was trying to get to 22,000 ft. (about 5,800 meters). Their concern was me taking a couple pieces of gear along that likely would not have been needed.

I met a bricks and mortar dealer at a stamp show, got to know him little, made a few purchases from him. He is knowledgeable and does appraisals, charging by the hour and not based on his appraised value of a collection. He recommends Collectibles Insurance, but also likes Hugh Wood. But I haven't pulled the trigger on getting my collection appraised for insurance purposes. I just couldn't let go of it for the week or so it would take to complete his review. I know this is nutty, but there you go.

I use Collectibles and have for 10 years. I know someone who uses Hugh Wood. We are both very happy with our current policies but neither of us has ever had to make a loss claim. To the best of my knowledge Hugh Wood and Collectibles have very similar policies and fees. I don't know of any other insurers who specialize in stamp collection coverage. I did not have to have a collection appraisal to be insured with Collectibles.

I would check reviews on past claims from any of these companies before I purchase insurance from them. Some insurance companies can insure whatever there is to insure, but when it comes to claims, it is a different matter.

My thought about this subject relates to not whether Wood or CIA is better than the other but what is actually worth insuring. CIA makes a distinction between scheduled items which are valued at $5000 a piece or greater—and everything else. Unless you are a dealer where the total value of your stock is your business, unless you have "scheduled items" or greater in your collection, or you think, realistically not fantasizing, that someone is going to pay you say more than $25,000 for your collection, I'm not sure that it pays to buy collectibles insurance, a yearly fee, as opposed to going bare or buying a home safe, a one time expense, or putting the most valuable stamps in a safe deposit box where you would store your other important papers.

I think the collectibles insurance market understands this. They request documentation on items of $5000 or greater since this are the items whose loss would more likely be claimed, rather than a general collection or accumulation of lower value items where the true value is more vague, generally a percentage of catalog, and for whom paying an "appraiser" either by percentage of the valuation or by the hour may not be worth it.

But this is all generalized opinion. To be more specific it would be helpful if someone stated what kind of total value is being insured and an example of the single most valuable item seeking insurance. I note that, not surprisingly, no one has offered this information. Nor have I, probably for the same reasons. It is really nobody's business what your collectibles may be worth—sort of like asking how much money someone makes—most of us have already answered the OP's question for our own purposes.
But more specific information would be required to try and advise those of us who have not.