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insurance values for photographs?


Stinger Gunner USMC
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Stinger Gunner USMC

I understancd that this may be a complicated question and difficult to answer.

I am in the middle of creating a complete database of my collection (including value for insurane) and have now come to my countless photographs and emphera (postcards, newspapers, phamplets, etc. etc. etc.) I am at a loss of what to put down for values. the majority of this stuff is either parts of larger groupings, or was obtained from various antique shops, estate sales etc. and have very little $ actually invested when i figure it up in $/item.

the majoirty of this material is from WWII, however there are about 40-50 WWI era photos and a maybe a dozen civil war and WWI newspapers. I also have a a grouping of aprox. 200 medium and large format negatives (40s-late 50s) from a named marine combat engineer wich includes combat photos in Korea and time as NCOIC for a ships detachment that I have no idea what to put as a value

For those of you out there who have insured your collection, how do you determine value on these smaller items in the collection??

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Hi

 

No idea about insurance, but I would guess an outside valuation to begin with so you have a market value to work with. To the right person your collection is worth something to anybody else not as much.

 

My main reason for posting are the negatives you have. Have you developed any and is so can you post a few from his combat time in Korea. w00t.gif

 

Cheers

 

Karl

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I understancd that this may be a complicated question and difficult to answer.

I am in the middle of creating a complete database of my collection (including value for insurane) and have now come to my countless photographs and emphera (postcards, newspapers, phamplets, etc. etc. etc.) I am at a loss of what to put down for values. the majority of this stuff is either parts of larger groupings, or was obtained from various antique shops, estate sales etc. and have very little $ actually invested when i figure it up in $/item.

the majoirty of this material is from WWII, however there are about 40-50 WWI era photos and a maybe a dozen civil war and WWI newspapers. I also have a a grouping of aprox. 200 medium and large format negatives (40s-late 50s) from a named marine combat engineer wich includes combat photos in Korea and time as NCOIC for a ships detachment that I have no idea what to put as a value

For those of you out there who have insured your collection, how do you determine value on these smaller items in the collection??

 

To give you a starting point: I recently sold 15 WWII photos (3x5 inch size) of B-29 nose art for about $25 each! Based on what I saw before I listed them, I had expected these to sell for perhaps $10-15 each. For insurance purposes you typically use the high end of a value range so in the case of those photos I would put the insurance value at $20 each, Insurance value is what it would cost you to replace the items so I would pick a number that's near the high end but not the highest.

 

I suggest searching through ebay's completed listings for photos similar to what you now have. Keep in mind that very large collections generally sell for far, far less per photo than small collections and there are certain types of photos which can command $50-100 or more depending upon subject matter. Insurance value is intended to allow you to replace the lost items so also keep in mind that non-ebay dealers often charge twice as much as what things sell for on ebay, so when you find those ebay prices, you would be on safe ground adding 50 or even 100 percent to the prices.

 

I just did some brief searches and found that the lowest per photo prices are for negatives. But you might want to look for large collections of official Signal Corps photos and see what they sold for. However, if these are combat action shots, then each image could be worth $20-30 or more. But if they are shots of guys sitting around staging areas they might be worth $2 each if sold as part of a large collection.

 

Again with the Civil War newspapers, value depends a lot on content. Ebay has a lot completed sales you can research.

 

From what you describe, if the subject matter is right, the value of those photos and newspapers could easily reach $10,000 or more for insurance purposes or maybe half that (those negatives are the wild card - 200 images from one combat photographer is a unusual lot).

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teufelhunde.ret

James, before you head-long into this you need to speak w/ ins company, if you not a member of USAA, join. Contact an independent commercial agent in your area (as well as) talking to USAA about the underwriting needs and costs. W/O professional appraisal your shooting in the wind... as any good agent will tell you. Between the deductible, premium and safekeeping requirements that will be stipulated in policy terms... your likely looking at some very pricey coverage. s/f Darrell

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There are several insurance companies that offer "Collectibles Insurance" and specialize in supporting collectors. I don't have my information in front of me, but if you pick up a copy of Military Trader, Military History, or Military Heritage magazine you will find ads in each for these companies.

 

Most are suprisingly reasonable.

 

Chris

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teufelhunde.ret
Most are surprisingly reasonable.

 

Chris

 

Be very careful in your dealings with these sort of specialty (industry specific) insurance companies. Scrutinize their claims history very closely, as you would the fine print. And look at their "bad faith" claim record history. There are sites to help determine this, as well as the state insurance commissioners office. Make sure they are registered to do biz in your state... if not, run like hell. If not... you have 1 in a hundred of chance of settling a satisfactory claim. Any state should be able to provide you w/ a "bad faith" claim history.

 

I was in a rush to leave office earlier and failed to mention, if this is going to become a serious long-term interest, you are going to need to look into what the sort of archival methods of storage you begin to employ for this collection. The films and paper were not manufactured, used and processed with the idea the negatives or prints were going to last for decades. Secondly... a safe and not some crappy one hour rated piece of junk. Do some research, buy one that will last a life time. s/f Darrell

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Great advice!

 

 

Be very careful in your dealings with these sort of specialty (industry specific) insurance companies. Scrutinize their claims history very closely, as you would the fine print. And look at their "bad faith" claim record history. There are sites to help determine this, as well as the state insurance commissioners office. Make sure they are registered to do biz in your state... if not, run like hell. If not... you have 1 in a hundred of chance of settling a satisfactory claim. Any state should be able to provide you w/ a "bad faith" claim history.
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Stinger Gunner USMC

thanks everybody! I knew there was no simple answer for this, but I keep getting told by friends and relativies that I need insurance... and after the theft of another forum members collection recently it got me to thinking...

as far as the grouping of negatives are concerned, I have not made atempts to have prints made. I have a negative scanner but it does not accept the large format negatives. I will try to make some scans of the 120s to post since there was some interest.

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James, before you head-long into this you need to speak w/ ins company, if you not a member of USAA, join. Contact an independent commercial agent in your area (as well as) talking to USAA about the underwriting needs and costs. W/O professional appraisal your shooting in the wind... as any good agent will tell you. Between the deductible, premium and safekeeping requirements that will be stipulated in policy terms... your likely looking at some very pricey coverage. s/f Darrell

 

You say USAA has a militaria estimating service for insurance purposes?

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teufelhunde.ret
You say USAA has a militaria estimating service for insurance purposes?

 

No they do not, they deal w/ underwriters whom are selected by them based on track record, rates, performance... etc. Its very difficult for most companies to compete w/ USAA. Call and inquire ;)

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