Insuring your collection?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 25 Aug 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Kiama	25 Aug 2002
Well, my collecion is getting rather large, and there are a few quite rare decks in it too... I will be moving out of home fo rthe frst time, and will therefore have to insure all my own things, but I am wondering if I should insure my Tarot collection on its own... It IS a potential fire hazard after all, and if my place caught fire the decks would be first to go up in flames and would be irretrievable... Has anyone insured their collection? Is it a good idea? How much for? Kiama

Liliana	25 Aug 2002
Insure it, definately. For price Id go to ebay and search for the deck name in completed items (click smart searh, completed items is a tab on top) and insure it for the highest it sold for or a little more, for each individual deck :THP

truthsayer	25 Aug 2002
insuring my collection has definitely crossed my mind. i've even considered getting a safety deposit box for my rarer decks but i can't stand to part w/ them even for safe keeping!! i plan on doing a video of all my decks and estimating the price on tape of each deck. then i'll put a copy of the tape up for safekeeping so i'll have a record of everything i have in case my decks burn up in a fire or are stolen. i think our home owner's policy would cover the loss that way. kiama, if you plan to rent a place, couldn't you check to see if renter's insurance would cover the loss of your decks if you kept pictures or a tape of what you have and what their value is? barring that as much as it pains me, i suggest you get a safety deposit box for your rarer or more expensive decks until you are in a more stable housing situation. i think you could bear being away from your decks easier than trying to replace them later if insurance is unavailable or not affordable.

SharonElizabeth	25 Aug 2002
You could always buy one of those fire proof safes. I think sentry makes them. I have one for my important stuff like my passport. I'm sure you could find one big enough to store the rarer decks. But, most definately insure your collection. I saw your collection on the string you started Kiama about what decks everyone has, and I was trying to imagine the amount of money you must have spent on all those decks. Have you saved the reciepts for the purchase of any of your decks? That may help you in assessing the value. The idea Liliana had about searching on ebay is a good one too. You should probobly be able to get insurance for the collection right from where you plan to get renters insurance from.

the hermit	26 Aug 2002
Quote: Originally posted by truthsayer i think our home owner's policy would cover the loss that way. check your policy and with your agent, but don't be surprised if they aren't covered for full value. many policies only cover contents (the stuff inside your home) to a certain monetary limit. if you have antiques or other valuables or collections they often need to be listed in detail with a special policy "rider" or they're not fully covered and coverage very often means higher premiums too. my cousin found this out the hard way. even though he had video and photographic records of his wife's antiques, a stamp collection and some original art work, he did not specifically request coverage on them from the insurance company. he lost thousands of dollars worth of difficult to impossible to replace items in a fire last year.

marmalade	26 Aug 2002
Just one quick thing about those fireproof safes... I was suggesting to my Mom last week that she get one for her important papers (she's currently keeping them in the cupboard above the oven!! :eek:), but she told me she saw a thing in the paper or on tv about the fire proof safes that although they are fireproof externally, the temperature inside them gets so hot that the things can burn anyways! Just don't want you to put all your faith in the safe and lose your decks!

Kiama	26 Aug 2002
Thanks for all your advice guys! Hopefully my boyfriend and I are both safety conscious enough not to cause a fire anyway... But just in case... (I was brought up by my Father who used to be a Fireman, and who now teaches FireFighting and Prevention, aswell as Accident Prevention... It's like a ritual for me at night now, to turn off all plugs- except for the fridge/freezer one!- and make sure all lights are off.) If I insure my collection, I will be insuring it seperate from my other belongings, because it is well over the value that I would get for it under a general insurance. I was told somewhere that if you insure, you should insure for the amount it woud cost to replace the items as new... Truthsayer: Thanks for the advice for the photographic record thing. I'll definitely do that. Now, here's another question... How much would it cost to insure my deck collection? I'm worried about that, because I will have a very limited cash supply as of a few weeks time, and don't want to be paying out more than £200 really... Am I being unrealistic? Kiama

wavebreaker	26 Aug 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Kiama Now, here's another question... How much would it cost to insure my deck collection? I'm worried about that, because I will have a very limited cash supply as of a few weeks time, and don't want to be paying out more than £200 really... Am I being unrealistic? Obviously, it depends on the insurer and the sort of insurance, but I know that here in the Netherlands you pay a lot for insuring special collections (which is what your deck collection will be considered as). It's usually a percentage of the value you want to insure. I think you'd best contact an insurance company, or rather several companies, and ask them about prices, so you can compare them and see which one offers the best value for money.

Minderwiz	26 Aug 2002
Many UK policies have new for old provision - they will replace your deck with a new one of the same type. I had a load of power tools stolen from my garage. Most of them were budget items but the insurance company is replacing them with items which in some cases cost three or four times as much! However in the case of rare decks this approach may not be possible if a replacement cannot be obtained. For such items I'd suggest special security - the fire proof safe or other place where they cannot get damaged is a good idea. Minderwiz

catlin	26 Aug 2002
I have to second marmalades comment about the fireproove safe as I have also heard that the temperature inside may also cause a fire inside the safe as the safes are usually made of steel and so it will heat up considerably. I am also thinking about keeping at least my most valuable decks in a deposit box at a bank as circumstances have told me that even when you are a safety concious person your environment won't be (especially not in student's homes etc). Besides, a probable theft should also be taken into consideration. As I am sceptic about insurance companies I think I won't insure them separately but prefer the deposit box as it is much cheaper and you don't have to bother about increasing insurance fees and running the risk of only having replaced an amount of your collection (this will not bring back an OOP deck when it will be lost) in case of need.

Jewel	26 Aug 2002
Hi Kiama, another alternative is to only insure the more expensive and rarer of your decks until you can financially insure all decks. I am currently contemplating this idea myself.

the hermit	26 Aug 2002
Quote: Originally posted by catlin I have to second marmalades comment about the fireproove safe as I have also heard that the temperature inside may also cause a fire inside the safe as the safes are usually made of steel and so it will heat up considerably. "Fire-proof" safes are rated by internal temperature and time. That is... the contents will remain safe at internal temp x while outside temp is y for z amount of time. Example from FireKing ad: "This safe carries the Underwriters' Laboratories (UL) Class 350 one-hour fire rating, along with basic theft protection features including an electronic combination lock with 1,000,000 combinations. The one-hour fire rating means that the internal temperature of the safe will not exceed 350 degrees F. for at least one hour when exposed to external temperatures of 1700 degrees. This exhaustive testing proves FireKing safes are built to survive the worst conditions." 1700 degrees F. is apparantly standard assumed approx. temp for normal housing structure fire. 1 hour is time before fire is controlled. Paper ignites at approximately 451 degrees Fahrenheit--232 degrees Celsius, coatings, ink, paint, etc. can increase or decrease this ignition temp. Obviously, higher temp resistance and longer time for internal temp protection raises price.

The Insuring your collection? thread was originally posted on 25 Aug 2002 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.