[meteorite-list] Meteorite Appraisal for Insurance?

[al mitt]

?

Hi Mike and all,

I've been down that path before. I think you will find that most insurance 
companies won't want to insure your collection. Mainly because they have no 
idea of true value and replacement cost would be difficult for them to 
figure. I'm sure that you have pieces that are rare and may be impossible to 
replace. This scares insurance companies. They would have to have a 
realistic value they could pay you for settlement in advance. Also maybe you 
have a piece that is a high character piece and nice, they may check on eBay 
and find an fragment with no character selling for 5 or 10 times less which 
creates a difficulty for them when replacing. They are always going to go 
with a lower price for replacement. Also they may depreciate your collection 
if they had to replace it unless you get a replacement clause in such an 
agreement. Some pieces will actually increase in value which will scare 
them.

I was given a quote and only Lloyds of London would insure in the early 
days. In about 5 or 6 years I could have bought a collections just a large 
(and nice) and as many pieces for what my premiums were going to cost me. My 
feelings were this was not cost effective. I was able to get my homeowners 
insurance to consider insuring the specimens much later on. They wanted 
pictures values, and receipts of all items I was going to insure. Again the 
cost of insuring was going to be high because they aren't sure how to put a 
proper value on meteorites because they just don't know how to. They 
suggested just insuring the most valuable ones to minimize loss.

This subject has been brought up before and I believe the consensus was 
this. Buy a high quality fire proof safe and store your specimens when not 
studying or displaying. I'd talk to your local firemen and get an opinion on 
where best to put the safe. Having it upstairs during a fire it may fall 
into the crawlspace or basement. If it lands on it's side or back, water can 
get in and damage specimens. Better to place down in an basement and in a 
corner or build or have built a structure that would support it and keep it 
in place in a house. If in a basement you should put it on something to 
raise it so water won't get in during a fire when firemen are putting the 
fire out.

If you get an appraisal, make sure it isn't by some amateur. I'd get someone 
like Blaine Reed or AL Lang to do it. Also you should get more than one to 
show some sort of consistency. Getting someone to come in and appraise would 
cost you the cost of their travel and what ever they would charge you. Get 
an estimate first. I'm sure there are other ideas out there but this has 
been my experience. Best!

--AL Mitterling

Mitterling Meteorites



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Groetz" <mpg4444 at gmail.com>
To: "Meteorite List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 04, 2011 8:11 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Meteorite Appraisal for Insurance?


   Have any of you worked with your home insurance company to have
your meteorite collection covered?
    I asked my agent about covering my collection (about 700
micromounts and a couple large ones) and she looked at me like I was
crazy. She said she never had been asked that before (understandably)
and wouldn't know how to do it.
    She said the collection needed appraised and she would see how to
deal with it.
    If any of you have had this done- may I ask how you went through
this putting your collection on your homeowners policy?

Thanks for helping me,
Mike Groetz
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