Insuring your collection? Any suggestions?

[squt]

Hello everyone!

After several years of fierce trading, I've finished my alpha set!  Now I have to wonder - how much would it suck if my house burned down?!  Or, if I were robbed by some brawny crack-smoking magic trader?

I've been trying to get my collection insured through the company that does my homeowners insurance, but not many companies insure card collections.  Do any of you out there have your collections insured?  If so, any suggestions for me (I live in the USA)?

squt

PS - as a side-thread, anyone have any horror stories about their collections being burnt up or stolen?

[silver.paladin]

I have actually been thinking of getting my cards insured also.  I did this once before with comics.
As for now, I am waiting until I move into a new condo being built, and once there, I will be looking into it more seriously.
The only downside I have found with insurance so far, is that if everything is lost/burnt (whatever calamity), they will not pay out, but instead replace it all.  Some would be very hard - if not outright impossible to replace, so I am not sure if it would be worth it or not.
If it can be replaced, great, but if not, I want the cash out option available.

As for horror stories, I do not really have one, except that a few years ago when I still played, a medium sized box of cards (playing decks, traders and such) were all taken from me at the store I was at.  About $2000 worth of cards stolen in one shot.  Since then, I have not played a game, and I very rarely take my cards out of my place, unless I feel very secure where I take them.

On the plus side (if there can be a plus side), this is what got me into collecting instead of playing, because I was a really big white/red combo player, and I had a large number of red cards at home still, and I started my collections (Red and Land) based on that.  Since then, all I do is add Red and Land cards to my collection, and not really worry about much other stuff.

[sylvanstu]

My horror storie happened at my last prerelease and I didn't even know it till 2 days later. I bring several binders in a camera bag about 2x2x3 and when I got home I later noticed my Type 2 binder was gone have no idea what happened to it. Just glad my type 1 binder didn't disapear.   :'(

[mintcollector]

Hello everyone!

After several years of fierce trading, I've finished my alpha set!  Now I have to wonder - how much would it suck if my house burned down?!  Or, if I were robbed by some brawny crack-smoking magic trader?

I've been trying to get my collection insured through the company that does my homeowners insurance, but not many companies insure card collections.  Do any of you out there have your collections insured?  If so, any suggestions for me (I live in the USA)?

squt

PS - as a side-thread, anyone have any horror stories about their collections being burnt up or stolen?

squt:  Who is your insurance company?  Mine is Allstate.  Our basic homeowner's policy runs $448 for the year.  We have my wife's engagment ring on as a policy rider insured for a little of $15K.  This runs us an additional $277 annually and covers any type of loss and is a cash payout.  My collection is insured for $31K a year and runs an additional $573 a year.  Allstate had me get written estimations from 3 venues to get a sense of my collection's market value.  In addition I have taken digital photos of each set of pages and burned them to CD.  This CD is stored in our fireproof safe.  My policy is reviewed once a year and as my collection grows I get changes made to my policy.  The requires new estimations and I also annually redo my image archive CD.  Overall it's a pain in the butt, but when your collection becomes really valuable you really should seriously protect your investment of time and money.

On your side thread, personally as my collection stays at home and never travels.  I did misplace my trade binder once, but it was turned in completely intact.  I gave the finder a spare JSS Crusade as a reward.  I also have known people to lose quite large collections in basement floods and many who have had cards lost or stolen.
   

[dry cereal]

would you burn a cd for me?  I dont have enough drool in my life.  No really, I think it would be really fun to check out those cards.

[squt]

Thanks for the heads-up Mintcollector.  I have USAA right now, and they just don't seem to know what to do with a magic card collection.  I have homeowners insurance, but it wouldn't really cover the value of my collection.  I have personal article floaters for my wife's small jewlery collection, but they just don't seem to know exactly how to classify Magic cards.  "We don't insure paper" is what i've been told.

I'll check out Allstate.  Even though it's a pain in the ass, I think it would be a bigger pain in the ass to not have my alpha set.

I've never really had any horror stories with my own collection, mostly because I hardly ever take it out of the house.  When I first started playing magic in college (Revised/Dark era), my friends and I would drive for about an hour to get to the nearest single-card store (somewhere around Dayton Ohio).  On our second trip there, a pasty-looking fellow who had been playing with some other kids in the shop freaked out because his deck had gone missing.

At the time, cards were starting to go up in value - Juzams were even worth $40!  anyway, this guy thought his deck was worth $50 or so, and insisted the store manager call the police.  MAN!  You've never seen a more confused and annoyed cop.  He frisked us all (he didn't appreciate the "how much do I owe you", "Not on the first date!" comments - I spose he was annoyed about the whole call anyway).  We figured that a group of 12-year olds on bikes probably swiped it while we were shopping, and those kids were nowhere to be found.  I don't know if that guy ever got his deck back, but it taught me how easy it is to have a deck stolen.

I also recently shopped a store in Detroit that had just been robbed of their alpha and beta binders (That's what I was looking for at the time).  They told me the guy smashed in the window, stole the binders, and was caught 3 blocks away by the cops when the silent alarm went off.  it was this guy's SECOND OFFENSE - breaking and entering to steal magic cards.

I've often said I would never cheat at magic because I wouldn't be able to live with myself.  I also couldn't steal a magic card, no matter how easy it would be - for the same reason.  But besides the guilt, HOW RETARDED would it be to be IN JAIL because you stole MAGIC CARDS?!!?

squt

[mintcollector]

would you burn a cd for me?  I dont have enough drool in my life.  No really, I think it would be really fun to check out those cards.

Instead of a CD everything, how about a picture on all my mint power 9?  That way many people can see it.

[Erl00]

Instead of a CD everything, how about a picture on all my mint power 9?  That way many people can see it.

Please post!!!

[mintcollector]

squt:  If you still don't have luck with your nearest Allstate agent or any other insurance company, you could always look into investing into a fireproof safe.  They have various sizes.  In fact, mine I have right now is so filled I am looking into getting a larger one.  My wife and I  have all of our life insurance policies which are a total of about $900K, our homeowners policy, our passports, SS cards, birth certificates, other valuables I really don't want to list here, etc.  Basically anything that you would be really f***ed if lost or destroyed especially in a disaster.  We have a really portable one that I could quickly grab in case of an emergency that has most of our key items in there.  

My point is a fire safe that should be large enough to store an Alpha set in binder pages should run you about $100.  I think the briefcase sized ones are about $50 if I recall.    

[mintcollector]

squt:  I also forgot to mention that you might also try to negotiate a contigient insurance policy.  This means the policy will only payout on certain circumstances.  If you are looking for a full coverage policy you probably will not find one for cards.  This is due to many reasons.  For example, let's say your collection is knocked off of a shelf and you lotus falls out and gets damaged and/or ruined.  A full coverage policy would allow you to file a claim.  Now if you get a contigient policy rider that will cover fire, tornado, hurricane, or whatever you want or the company is willing to cover, you might coerce the company to underwrite you a policy.  I find that larger companies like State Farm, Allstate, etc. usually provide better customer service and a better range of insurance products.  I have had the same agent since I have started driving and he has been great.  We have our auto and homeowner's plicies through him.  Our life policies are handled through the company our financial planner belongs to.

[dry cereal]

I also recently shopped a store in Detroit that had just been robbed of their alpha and beta binders (That's what I was looking for at the time).  They told me the guy smashed in the window, stole the binders, and was caught 3 blocks away by the cops when the silent alarm went off.  it was this guy's SECOND OFFENSE - breaking and entering to steal magic cards.

I hope fzappa isn't associated with this type of trouble.  I always thought the "t1-junkie" under his forum icon was a joke.  Seriously, if you need help, you can come to me.  We'll get you clean.

[inca911]

Some rarities are basically impossible to insure due to the lack of any pricing on them that can be referenced.  Besides, your insurance agent gives you a very funny look when you have them over to explain some of the prices of the rarities.  A safe deposit box is the way to go for those things you don't continually view and appreciate.

[fvzappa]

Hey now... I'm a magic junkie, but I really don't care for the new cards like I do the old ones. I own anywhere from 3,000-5,000 cards, per set, from Alpha thru Ice Age. I've bought out 3 stores too...

I've had a few cards stolen from me, but not the other way around!

And sticking to topic, I am thankfully getting a safe from my father this Xmas, for both MTG stuff & some unique rock & roll stuff that is irreplaceable. I've faced similar situations as many of you have with confusion as far as value. It's one thing to get mint P9 appraised, but David Bowie handwritten lyrics & Frank Zappa's will are clearly a bit more invaluable. As of now, they are just well hidden, fire will wreck me!

Also, you usually can get some sort of break on insurance if you have a safe, ask your agent.

[dragsamou]

Hi Members.
Here in France,you should have seen the Face of my Insurance guy when I talk about my MTG Collection  ;)
They request a statement prooving The Value by an Expert  :o
I have also,a Safe in my Bank,but the idea to put my binders in it,and look at them once a year for Christmas is out of my mind.

[Erl00]

They request a statement prooving The Value by an Expert  :o

Lol!
I can write you this statement if you wish. ;D

As far as I'm concerned, my insurance companie is also my bank. I suggested the idea once. My banker was of course really interested to sell me an insurance product so we had a constructive chat ... up to the point when he also mentioned an expert.

I tried to explain that, in France, experts for this kind of collection was a restricted population, including me but he argued that, "you know, we have experts for all kinds of collections ..."

I said: ok, find me a qualified expert! He carefully took notes of what was this stuff about to seek for experts and I never heard again about him ...

:)
Eric.