Insurance for What Your Homeowner's Policy Can't Cover
From military service to legal service
Fine art, jewelry, wine, and collectibles deserve coverage built around their actual value — not a sublimit that caps your claim before it starts.
Why Standard Homeowner's Policies Fall Short for Serious Collections
Most homeowner's policies include a sublimit for personal property categories like jewelry, fine art, and collectibles. That cap is typically $1,000 to $2,500 per category — a figure that bears no relationship to the real value of a curated collection, a significant piece of jewelry, or a cellar of investment-grade wine. If a loss occurs, you recover the sublimit, not the collection.
High value personal property insurance works differently. Rather than grouping your valuables into a broad category with a fixed ceiling, we schedule each item individually based on a documented appraisal. That means your coverage reflects what the piece is actually worth — and what it would actually cost to replace, restore, or compensate at the time of a claim.
The categories we place coverage for include:
- Fine art and sculpture
- Jewelry, watches, and gemstones
- Wine and spirits collections
- Antiques and decorative arts
- Coins, stamps, and numismatic collections
- Sports memorabilia and signed collectibles
- Other high-value personal property by appraisal
Appraisal, Documentation, and the Risk Assessment Process
Accurate coverage begins with accurate valuation. Before we place any policy on a valuable articles collection, we work through a risk assessment and gap analysis to understand what you own, how it's currently covered, and where your exposure is.
For items that require scheduling, we coordinate appraisal and documentation requirements with you directly. This includes current appraisals from qualified appraisers, photographs, provenance records where applicable, and any prior insurance history. The goal is a coverage file that can support a claim without ambiguity — because the time to build that file is before a loss, not after.
We also conduct annual reviews of scheduled items as part of ongoing client service. Art markets move. Jewelry values shift with commodity prices. A collection that was accurately insured three years ago may be meaningfully underinsured today. Our review process keeps your coverage aligned with what your collection is actually worth.
Carriers Who Understand What You're Insuring
Not every carrier handles fine art and jewelry insurance the same way. We place valuable articles coverage with carriers who specialize in this category — firms whose claims teams understand how fine art is appraised, how jewelry is replaced, and how wine collections are valued after a loss. That distinction matters when a claim involves something irreplaceable.
Because we operate as an independent brokerage, we access a broad range of carriers and programs rather than routing every client through a single company's product line. For collections, that independence allows us to match the specific type of property — and the specific risk profile of how it's stored, displayed, or transported — to the carrier best positioned to cover it.
Coverage can extend to items at your primary residence, secondary homes, in transit, on loan to institutions, or in storage. We structure the policy around how you actually live with your collection, not around a standard template.
Ready to Have This Handled for You?
Many homeowners reach this point after researching deductibles, hail coverage, and policy language online. The next step is having this reviewed by a local team that handles Cheyenne homeowners insurance every day and can compare options clearly.
Your Questions, Answered Clearly
Is jewelry covered under a standard homeowner's insurance policy?
Jewelry is typically covered under homeowners insurance, but only up to a per-category sublimit — often $1,000 to $2,500. For any piece of meaningful value, that limit falls far short of what replacement would actually cost. Scheduling jewelry individually on a valuable articles policy removes the sublimit and ties coverage to a documented appraisal.How do I insure a fine art collection properly?
Properly insuring a fine art collection requires scheduling each piece individually based on a current, qualified appraisal. The policy should cover the appraised value rather than an estimated or depreciated figure, and it should address where the work is located — at home, in storage, on loan, or in transit. We manage the documentation process and place coverage with carriers who specialize in fine art claims.How often should I update my valuables coverage?
We recommend reviewing scheduled items annually. Art market values, jewelry commodity prices, and collectibles markets all shift over time, and a policy that reflected accurate value at inception may underinsure the same items a few years later. Annual reviews are part of how we manage ongoing coverage for our clients.Does collectibles insurance cover items while they're being transported or displayed at an institution?
Yes. Policies placed for serious collectors can include coverage for items in transit, on loan to museums or galleries, and in off-site storage — not only items kept at a primary residence. We structure coverage to reflect how you actually use and move your collection.What documentation do I need to insure high-value personal property?
The standard documentation for scheduled valuable articles coverage includes a current appraisal from a qualified appraiser, photographs of each item, and any available provenance or purchase records. For wine collections, a current inventory with acquisition costs and current market values is typically required. We walk you through exactly what's needed during our risk assessment process so nothing is missed before coverage is bound.
