How to insure a statue and figure collection
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A collection built over years can be worth more than everything else in the room, and many people find out how it is insured only after something happens. This is a general guide, not insurance advice: policies differ by country and by company, so confirm every point with your own insurer.
Do not assume it is covered
Home contents insurance usually covers your belongings up to a total sum, and often sets a lower limit for single items or for categories such as art, jewellery and collections. A statue worth more than that single-item limit may be paid only up to the limit unless it is declared.
Ask your insurer three things: whether collectibles are covered, what the limit per item and per collection is, and what proof they need for a claim.
The usual options
- Raise the contents sum so that it includes the collection.
- Declare the most valuable pieces individually, which some policies call scheduling or specifying items.
- Take a separate policy for collectibles, which some insurers and brokers offer.
What a claim needs
After a fire, a flood or a burglary you will be asked to show what you owned and what it was worth. That is much easier with an inventory prepared in advance:
- A list of every piece with manufacturer, edition and edition number where there is one.
- Photographs of each piece and of the collection as it is displayed.
- Receipts, order confirmations or bank records of the purchase.
- A current value for each piece, with the date you checked it.
New for old or current value
Policies differ in what they pay: the price you paid, the cost of replacing the piece today, or its current market value. For sold-out limited editions these three can be far apart. Find out which one applies to you, because it decides whether your insured sum is enough.
What is often excluded
- Gradual damage: fading, yellowing, leaning.
- Accidental breakage, unless the policy includes accidental damage.
- Damage in transit, which matters when you move house or send a piece to a buyer.
- Theft without signs of forced entry.
Keep the proof somewhere else
An inventory stored only in the house can be lost in the same event as the collection. Keep a copy outside the home: an export sent to yourself, a cloud copy, or a printed list kept elsewhere.
Review it every year
Values change, and so does the size of the collection. Once a year, update the values, add the new pieces and check that the insured sum still covers the total.