getting a valuable collection appraised ??

[raulus]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

You also don't need one for insurance unless there is a loss and a fight. The specialty insurers for collectibles will issue a blanket policy and only require specific scheduling (listing) of single items above a certain value threshold, and they will happily take your money based on whatever value you want to stick into the schedule.

Speaking of a potential loss and a fight, my understanding is that they'll pay the lesser of the actual value or scheduled value for a piece (with an aggregate ceiling from the limit on your policy). So if I have a $100,000 scheduled value on a piece that is only worth $50,000, they'll only pay out $50,000.

Of course, I suppose there's also the issue that a lot of pieces can be difficult to find at any price, and even for stuff that can be found, the precise price is usually a range. Sometimes, even a wide range, between auction price, low retail, high retail, and museum price.

Curious if you (or anyone else) has actually gone through the process of actually filing a claim and getting an insurance company to pay out on a policy, and how the mechanics worked.