Your Collection Is Special. Your Insurance Coverage Should Be, Too.
You probably didn’t build your collection overnight.
Maybe it started with a baseball card you received as a kid. A watch passed down from your grandfather. A piece of art you fell in love with while traveling. Or maybe collecting is something you’ve spent years—and a significant amount of money—pursuing.
Whatever you collect, there is one important question we want you to be able to answer:
Do you know how your insurance would actually cover your collection if something happened to it?
At Kicker Insures Me Agency, we believe insurance should start with education—not price. The least expensive policy isn’t necessarily the best value if you discover after a loss that something important wasn’t covered the way you expected.
A homeowners policy provides valuable protection for your home and belongings, but it was not designed specifically for every type of collectible or high-value item. Depending on your policy, certain property may have special limits, exclusions, or restrictions on how a loss is valued.
That’s why a separate collectibles policy may be worth considering.
Why Consider a Separate Collectibles Policy?
1. Your Homeowners Policy May Have Coverage Limits or Sublimits
Your homeowners policy may provide personal property coverage of $200,000 or more, but that does not mean every item you own is covered up to its full value with a limit of that amount. Certain categories of property can have special limits—sometimes called sublimits—particularly for losses such as theft. Other property or causes of loss may have restrictions or exclusions depending on your specific policy.
Here’s an example:
Imagine you have spent years building a rare coin collection currently worth $25,000. Your home is burglarized and the entire collection is stolen. You might assume, “I have plenty of personal property coverage, so my $25,000 collection is covered.” But your homeowners policy may have a much lower special limit for money, coins, or numismatic property. Instead of receiving enough to replace your $25,000 collection, you could discover that only $500 of its value is covered. A separate collectibles policy can provide coverage specifically designed around the type and documented value of the property you own.
The question isn’t just, “Do I have insurance?” It’s, “How does my insurance actually cover this?”
2. Your Collection May Be Worth More Today Than You Paid for It
Collectibles can increase significantly in value over time. Sports cards, comic books, fine art, watches, coins, memorabilia, and other collectibles may become more valuable because of rarity, condition, demand, or changes in the collector market. A receipt from years ago may have very little to do with what an item is worth today.
Here’s an example:
Suppose you purchased a collectible sports card for $1,000 several years ago. The player becomes a Hall of Famer, demand increases, and professionally graded versions of your card are now selling for $10,000. Then the card is destroyed in a covered house fire. How will your homeowners policy determine its value? Will you receive what you originally paid? Its current market value? Replacement cost? Is there a coverage limitation that applies? Those are questions you want answered before the fire—not after it.
Depending on the carrier and policy, specialized collectibles insurance may offer agreed-value or other valuation options that allow you to insure an item based on a documented value. Regularly reviewing your collection and its value can be just as important as insuring it in the first place.
3. A Separate Policy May Cover Types of Loss Your Homeowners Policy Does Not
One of the biggest differences between insurance policies is not simply how much they pay—it’s what types of losses they cover. Homeowners policies typically insure personal property against specific covered causes of loss and are subject to deductibles, exclusions, conditions, and limitations. Specialized collectibles policies may offer broader protection, depending on the policy, including coverage for accidental breakage, mysterious disappearance, or property temporarily away from your home.
Here’s an example:
Imagine you own a valuable piece of collectible art. While moving it from one room to another, you accidentally drop it and severely damage it. You call your insurance company expecting your homeowners policy to cover the damage—only to learn that accidental breakage in that situation is not a covered cause of loss under your policy. A specialized collectibles or valuable-items policy may offer broader coverage for accidental damage, depending on the policy you select. Another example could be a valuable collectible that simply disappears. You know you owned it, but you cannot prove whether it was stolen, misplaced, or lost. That type of mysterious disappearance may not be covered by a standard homeowners policy but may be available under certain specialized policies.
Understanding these differences is why we believe coverage should come before price.
What Do You Collect?
Specialized insurance may be available for many types of collections, including:
- Fine art, paintings, and sculptures
- Jewelry, watches, and precious stones
- Coins, currency, and stamps
- Sports cards and sports memorabilia
- Comic books and rare books
- Antiques and historical items
- Wine and spirits collections
- Musical instruments
- Cameras and photography equipment
- Firearms collections
- Vintage toys, dolls, and models
- Other rare or high-value collections
You don’t necessarily need a million-dollar collection to benefit from specialized coverage. The better question is:
If your entire collection disappeared tomorrow, would you know exactly how your current insurance policy would respond?
If the answer is “I’m not sure,” it may be time for a coverage review.
Know Your Coverage Before You Need It
Insurance can be confusing. Our job is to help make it easier to understand. At Kicker Insures Me Agency, we don’t want the first time you learn about a sublimit, exclusion, deductible, or coverage restriction to be after you have a claim. We want to help you understand your options first.
Tell us what you collect, approximately what it’s worth, and what makes it important to you. We can help review your insurance options and determine whether keeping the collection on your homeowners policy, scheduling certain items, or purchasing a separate collectibles policy may provide the protection you need.
Let’s Make Sure Your Collection Is Properly Protected
Complete the form below and tell us about your collection.