Insuring Art At Home

To follow up with my last post on Understanding How To Insure Fine Art, here I am going to touch on your home collections. Again, as always, I am speaking in broad generalities as all of the scenarios can’t possibly be addressed here.  Your Agent should be able to provide you with more detailed answers if necessary.

Many of you may be building large collections of art or collectibles as a passion, and have not considered the amount of money that you have tied up in these items. Homeowner policies cover your contents with a limit, usually a percentage of what you structure is insured for. This limit is to compensate you for damage to the “stuff” in your home; clothing, pots & pans, dishes, dining set, bedding, electronics, the barcalounger and, oh yeah, the art and collectibles.  To provide some additional limits over and above your contents limit, you can “schedule” your artwork or other collections. This involves providing replacement cost values (shameless plug…Emerald Art Services, LLC provides insurance appraisals) to your insurance company prior to a loss and paying a minimal additional premium for these additional limits on the specific item scheduled. (You’re probably familiar with doing this with jewelry, well; it works the same way with art) There are other advantages to scheduling with regards to perils, but I’m not getting into that mess here, too many if’s, and’s and but’s. Your Agent is just a phone call away.

Well then, what do I schedule?  

Look at it this way. If your entire house is destroyed, is the value of your contents greater than your limit? Probably. Can you afford not to get compensated for your $2,500 Hummel collection, $1,000 comic book collection, $4,000 painting, $1,500 print or $8,000 wine cellar? If not, you may want to consider scheduling these items. Ultimately, the threshold is up to you and your comfort level.

If you would like to have an agent review your policy, I recommend Sandy Gasser with SLV Insurance Services in Fairlawn, Ohio. 330-668-2417