Insuring your Collection.

[Victrolacollector]

I never think of it until I do the math....

A dozen run of the mill machines even at 300.00 can be worth over 3,000.00
A couple hundred good Edison Diamond Discs with some good titles even at $10.00 each can be worth $ 2,000.00
A collection of 100 good 78 Victors at 5.00 each is 500.00
A hundred cylinders can be at least $ 400.00
A collection of 100 resin cylinders at $ 50.00 on average is at least 5,000.00

So you can see that the costs add up, this is not a cheap hobby and have any collectors thought about what there collections are worth? Any thoughts on insurance?

[gramophone78]

This subject has been raised countless times. See below....
http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... ce#p155372
http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... ion#p38236
http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... ion#p74951

[Hailey]

Understandably...in the event of catastophic loss, one would benefit from insurance.
The problem that I have is that the premiums, in my opinion, are just rediculous. On the average, about $500 cost of premium for every $100K insured. That would run me around $5000 premium per year.

That is rediculous.

[Jerry B.]

Most insurance companies require an appraisal before insuring an item. How do you find someone remotely qualified to appraise a phonograph collection? The issue becomes apparent when you look at a book on antiques. The so-called values are all over the place. When someone claims a value from "the book", I immediately think of my experiences of looking at a value book and thinking they are all good candidates for the recycle bin.

I'd like to hear from any Forum member that is a licensed or qualified phonograph appraiser.

Jerry Blais

[Mlund2020]

I have a separate insurance policy to cover my collection of art and antiques, including my mechanical music collection. I used the same agent/ company that also insures my home, autos, investment properties, umbrella policy etc. I provided my insurance agent with an itimized list of all the pieces that I wanted covered and the value (generally I wanted to at least cover my purchase price and restoration costs when assigning a value to each item to be covered). They only required an official appraisal on items that I valued with an insurance value greater than $100K (This was only one piece in my collection). I decided to only insure pieces in my collection with a value of more than $2,500. I figured in the case of a total loss I wanted to cover my major assets and was willing to take a risk on my less valuable assets. I recently changed to PURE insurance for all of my insurance coverage because they offered significant savings over my previous insurance provider. Much of the savings came from a better rate on my art and antiques policy. I now pay approximately $100 of annual premium for every $75,000 of items covered. If I need to add or remove pieces from my policy (as I buy or sell pieces) I just inform my agent and my policy and premium is adjusted accordingly. As my agent is motivated to cover all of my insurance needs, she has been extremely accommodating on my art and antique policy. While the additional insurance costs are definitely an additional expense, the piece of mind I get from having my valuable and growing collection covered from loss (theft, fire, etc) is priceless to me. This is especially true since my business partner just experienced a fire in his home last month with a complete loss of his home and the contents within.

[Victrolacollector]

Most insurance companies require an appraisal before insuring an item. How do you find someone remotely qualified to appraise a phonograph collection? The issue becomes apparent when you look at a book on antiques. The so-called values are all over the place. When someone claims a value from "the book", I immediately think of my experiences of looking at a value book and thinking they are all good candidates for the recycle bin.

I'd like to hear from any Forum member that is a licensed or qualified phonograph appraiser.

Jerry Blais

I agree, I gave up on those antique price guides. I have one from 2005 or 2006 that listed a Columbia Q at $ 1700.00

[Curt A]

The ONLY thing that I would caution about is this... once you have an "appraised value" listed on an insurance policy schedule, you now have a written document that proves you have a "collection". If you plan to leave this to your family, it now has a taxable capital gains value and most likely will have to go through probate court at your death, unless each item is "jointly owned by title", like a car or savings account or owned by a trust (wills don't count for probate). You will need written documentation of your purchase prices to prove your "basis" in each item, if you have no documentation the basis is set at zero. So, if you bought something cheap 20 years ago, that is your basis. If you bought something "expensive" six months ago, you don't even qualify for the capital gains rate - you have to own the item for at least a year...

The "good" news is that your gain is taxed at 28%, which is good for high earning people with taxable income rates that are higher than that... The "bad" news is that other long term capital gains on property or stock is normally around 15%, so you are penalized for "investing" in "collectibles". If you sell at auction, this is a moot point, since the auction house is required to send a report to the IRS.

The outcome that you would be hoping for is a lowball appraisal, which would work against you with an insurance claim. A high appraisal, like some of the ridiculous eBay listings would result in paying more taxes... a "win/lose" situation.

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/pe ... -taxed.asp