Large collections and cataloging/insurance

[Keebles]

(Mods, please do not move this to the collectors board)

I posted this question on the collectors board, but I guess no one knew the answer, so I thought I'd try over here since it's a much bigger community.

I've seen numerous pics of peoples Disney collections, so I know that there are those out there that have massively large collections, so I was wondering:

For those that have large collections (Disney or otherwise), how do you catalog them for insurance or just for your own purposes? Do you use software and, if so, what kind? Do you have it insured separately from your house insurance or just included in it? Or do you have it cataloged at all?

I found some cataloging software (one was even Disney specific), but most were the cost of a mortgage payment and very few had demo versions.

Any help you guys can give would be greatly appreciated! Surely, I'm not the only person on these boards that's considered this, am I?

 

[KellyT2]

Hi:

I do not collect Disney, but I do have an extensive Breyer Horse, and equine book collection. I have these items listed with one policy (general collectibles) with a collectibles insurer, Collectibles Insurance, LLC (sorry, not enough posts to provide a URL). I did not have to provide an itemized list or pictures. The cost for me was 95.00/Year for coverage of 20K. Members in my hobby have had success in having paying claims promptly, but you do have to adhere closely to the guidelines of the policy to ensure that you are eligible in terms of breakage, loss, etc. They are underwritten by The Hartford.

I have heard that in most cases, a rider and home owners will not cover collections.

 

[SueInBoston]

I have my Swarovski collection in an Access Database, I have books that listed the info and I basically entered all my pieces into the database. It was a pain initially, but a one time input and worth the effort. I have a rider on my homeowner to cover the collection, but the value of the collection has gone down quite a bit in the last 10-15 years due to over saturated ebay market. I have not increase or even check to see how much it is at....

 

[golfgal]

I know a lot of people just use excel since it is easy to update. For insurance purposes, keep receipts and give copies to your agent along with a copy of your excel file. Take pictures too. Policies will cover collections to a point but it is one thing that is hard to get covered because people will claim they have these collections and all of the sudden they are "stolen" so insurance companies are pretty leery of them without proof.

 

[Keebles]

Thanks for your responses guys! I'm really looking hard at the software that was Disney specific...it allowed you to add pictures and all kinds of other information of your choosing and it's not expensive. (Which kind of scares me - shouldn't it be? All the other stuff is.) I have this strange mind block thing when it comes to Excel. At some point in the 10th grade I got it in my head that spreadsheets = satan and I haven't been able to change that thought since.

I've been collecting this stuff since birth and I'm the world's worst about taking things out of boxes and removing their tags (just because I can't stand to see things dangling from their poor little ears), so I highly doubt I've got a major cash cow on my hands or that any burglar would touch a single piece of it (guarantee he would walk straight past my most valuable piece and head straight for the TV). It's not about the value of collecting for me, but the enjoyment I get out of each piece. But it is getting to the point that I can't remember what I've got (especially when it comes to pins - I did try the PinPics thing, but that only covers one aspect of my collection and I'd like everything in one place).

My insurance agent and I have talked about it in the past several times and he has mentioned getting additional insurance, but he never pushes me on it and eventually I forget about it (until someone I know gets broken into to, or, God forbid, has a fire). If something like that happened, I would eventually want to replace everything I've collected (which would be hard to do if you can't remember what you've got).

 

[golfgal]

Thanks for your responses guys! I'm really looking hard at the software that was Disney specific...it allowed you to add pictures and all kinds of other information of your choosing and it's not expensive. (Which kind of scares me - shouldn't it be? All the other stuff is.) I have this strange mind block thing when it comes to Excel. At some point in the 10th grade I got it in my head that spreadsheets = satan and I haven't been able to change that thought since.

I've been collecting this stuff since birth and I'm the world's worst about taking things out of boxes and removing their tags (just because I can't stand to see things dangling from their poor little ears), so I highly doubt I've got a major cash cow on my hands or that any burglar would touch a single piece of it (guarantee he would walk straight past my most valuable piece and head straight for the TV). It's not about the value of collecting for me, but the enjoyment I get out of each piece. But it is getting to the point that I can't remember what I've got (especially when it comes to pins - I did try the PinPics thing, but that only covers one aspect of my collection and I'd like everything in one place).

My insurance agent and I have talked about it in the past several times and he has mentioned getting additional insurance, but he never pushes me on it and eventually I forget about it (until someone I know gets broken into to, or, God forbid, has a fire). If something like that happened, I would eventually want to replace everything I've collected (which would be hard to do if you can't remember what you've got).

You can just take a piece of paper, write down the item, take a picture of it and tape it next to the item listing. If you have a camera that has text capabilities you can take a picture and write what the piece is on the picture. Save it all to a memory card and see if your agent has storage capabilities on the company server (our agent does) and upload that. You could also photograph everything and post it on Photobucket or a similar site and put the ID information in the tag. It doesn't have to be complicated.