getting a valuable collection appraised ??
 

Anyone have suggestions on getting a valuable card collection appraised ?


Thanks

How many pieces are in the collection? Is it 5 pieces? 5,000? 5 million?

Are they mostly raw? Graded? If so, by which TPG?

What era are they from?

And which sport(s)?

Why are you getting them appraised? For insurance purposes? For inheritance purposes? Just for funsies?

I suspect the answer will depend on a lot of these factors, and maybe a few more.

Heritage and REA both have appraisal functions.

What is the purpose of the appraisal? Insurance, Probate? Divorce?

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Michael Osacky Sports Appraisals
Chicago, IL 60610, US

(312) 379-9090 Michael Osacky michael@baseballintheattic.com

REA and PSA both utilize his service.

You really don't need an appraisal unless you are doing something with your collection, like donating it. If the collection is just sitting there, an appraisal is useless. It is a snapshot of what an item is worth at a given point. In other words, it is like a donut: the longer it sits around the house, the more stale it gets.

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.

No insurer pays more than actual value on a loss. What the value is on unique items is where the fun is. The insurer goes low, the insured goes high, and we take it from there. Hell, I get into

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...ap%20fight.gif

with insurers all the time over loss valuation.

I ruined a Butterfinger Ruth while I was trying to make a sale. It was 2021, and value had increased. I submitted a claim. The Rep had no clue about baseball cards. He asked for me to do my own research, find 3 valuations from different sources, highlighting cards in typical condition. My card was raw with some paper damage, and so I used comps of PSA 1, because nearly all Butterfingers are graded extremely low. I submitted valuations from VCP, Ebay, and a third company....Beckett? Anyway, the recent comps were $500, $750, and $1000. Insurance agreed to pay $750.

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Thanks for sharing. Glad to hear they didn't try to argue you down to $500.

I think my biggest fear is some of the pieces that I have that are 1 of 1s (or maybe 2 or 3). For the pieces with a couple of other examples, I guess I could try to buy it off of whoever has the other pieces, assuming I can even figure out who owns them. But for 1 of 1 pieces, other than the price I paid to pick it up, about the only way to attempt to value it might be to look at other 1 of 1 stuff for similar players from similar sets, and then attempt to triangulate a little. But the analysis and math would get real dicey in a hurry.

Don't get me wrong - I have strong opinions on what those pieces are worth, and those are reflected in the scheduled values on my insurance policy. But getting the insurance company on board could be good fun.

Just spitballing here, but I guess I could also maybe call around to some dealers and/or auction houses (or these appraisal groups that others have mentioned above) and poll them on what they think it would be worth. Assuming they're familiar with the issue, and wouldn't just lowball the price because they assume it's not desireable, maybe that information could be used as an additional data point to bolster the argument about value.

Since every thread needs a card, here's an example of one that could be fun to get the insurance company to agree to my value.