Technical article

Does Your Insurance Cover the Collection?

If the cap is a few thousand dollars and the collection is worth more, the gap is yours.

By Neil Solomon · 4 min read

Picture a couple whose home has a fire. The kitchen and the living room are gone. In the bedroom closet were four watches, a coin album and some jewelry. The couple call the insurer and ask what they will receive. The answer depends on a few lines in the policy that were written years before.

This piece goes through those lines, one at a time, as things you could ask your own insurer. The figures come from one insurer's published terms and from blogs, and we say which is which.

The cap on collectibles

A blog on art insurance says homeowners policies typically cap collectibles at US$1,000 to US$5,000 in total. Its example is a US$45,000 loss that paid US$2,500 (tier U, no source given for the figures). Policies differ, so the schedule in your own policy is the page to read. If the cap is a few thousand dollars and the collection is worth more, the gap is yours.

Agreed value and market value

Chubb, a collections insurer, describes the two ways a policy can pay (tier C, one carrier's terms).

Hagerty UK explains agreed value for classic cars the same way. The insurer and the owner fix the car's worth at the start of the policy. The payout on a total loss is that sum, less the excess. The insurer may ask for photographs or an independent valuation report (tier C).

Hagerty data reported in January 2026 says 35.2% of private sales of classic cars were above insured value (tier U). Sale prices and insured values can sit well apart.

Scheduled items

An item that is scheduled is named on the policy with its own value. An item that is not scheduled falls under the general cap. Chubb says new acquisitions are covered for 90 days, up to 25% of the itemized coverage, which gives time to add the piece to the schedule (tier C).

The age of the appraisal

Chubb requires appraisals for fine art of US$250,000 or more, for jewelry pieces of US$100,000 or more and for wine of US$50,000 or more. It suggests new appraisals every three to five years. Another source, Masterworks, says fast-moving contemporary work may need a look about every two years (tier C).

Sotheby's separates two values for the same object. One is fair market value, which is what it believes the item would bring at auction. The other is insurance value, which is replacement cost (tier B). They are not the same number, and an old appraisal may state one while a claim uses the other.

After a death

If you die, the policy does not end on its own timetable. A UK insurer blog says some household policies allow about 30 days to report a death, and that a policy not reported may become invalid (tier C, and terms vary by insurer). It also says that after probate only the executor can take out the policy, in the executor's name. A short note to the family saying who the insurer is, and where the schedule lives, could save days.

Deloitte's 2025 art report calls the widening gap between collection value and insurance coverage an escalating threat. Its figure that 93% of family offices insure art applies to family offices, not to individual collectors (tier B).

The objection

You might say the insurer will sort it out after a loss, and you have been paying premiums for years. That may be right. A claim is easier when the schedule is current, the photographs exist and the appraisal is dated. The paper trail is what turns a long argument into a short one.

You could pull out your policy and read the page that lists collectibles. You could then check the date on your last appraisal against the three to five year suggestion above.

The Empty House and the Insurance Policy is an earlier story on the clause that applies when a home is left empty.

Has your insurer ever asked you to update a schedule, or have you been the one to chase? Share what happened here. Someone else may be waiting for the call that never came.

Figures are estimates for planning, based on public data. Date read: October 2026.