William,

Another thing to think about is that in the case of loss, most insurance policies require the item to be appraised at Current fair market value before the adjuster will approve the amount of the claim so a past appraisal amount will not play into the this.  In my experience, the best type of insurance is a loss limit policy this is usually not based on a total replacement value but a probably maximum loss.  This type of insurance usually does not require a regular schedule.  You do not even have to have your artifacts appraised before you start. You can do the “best guess” method.  It does require that you have cataloged and can document your collection at the time of a loss.  In the case of a loss, an object would then be appraised (which is required) as to current fair market value including cost of repair or replacement.  Then claims are paid up to your loss limit amount.  The down side is in a case with total loss, you will only get paid up to the loss limit and no more no matter what the value of the rest of your objects in your collection.  There are lots of other things to think about with your insurance besides just whether to have scheduled or loss limit, things like standard exclusions, subrogation, loss buy back, issues about pairs and sets, and the list goes on.  There is a great section in The New Museum Registration Methods book edited by Rebecca Buck and Jean Gilmore.

 

A word of caution...almost any insurance company can provide your institution with a art/museum rider but look into companies that specialize in insurance for museums & archives.  Many local companies provide the rider, but their people do not understand the unique issues and problems with insuring museum & archive collections.  They almost never have claims against these riders and if you have a claim, they will treat your collection like general property.  They also do not understand why a museum might want to keep an object even if badly damaged due to historical provenance, for example. 

 

Before you spend money on an appraisal decide what type of risk and policy you want to have and what the insurance company will expect of your institution.  This will guide you as to how much of the collections need to be appraised.  Also, remember that if you have items on loan to the museum.  Those items must fully insured and are paid first and take that into account with your insurance. 

 

These is also a good section on insurance in A legal primer on Managing Museum Collections by Marie C. Malaro which can be very helpful. 

 

Tracie

 

 

 

Hi gang,   I'm the new Collections Manager at a small historical society in Western PA. The collection has never been catalogued until now, but I have some volunteers asking me if we have should get an appraisal done on the collection? It doesn't seem to make much sense to have it done yet. What is the best course of action? How would you handle telling the volunteer  and/or the appraiser (who is also a volunteer)?    Sincerely,   William A. Freil   Collections Manager  Greene County Historical Society 416 Rolling Meadows Road Waynesburg, PA 15320

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