True story: Suzanne, who collects purses valued between $50,000 and $100,000 each, often carried them in public.
One day, Suzanne was followed home from the store by a group of thieves who monitored her house for several months.
Through their surveillance, they discovered that her first-floor alarm would go off when triggered, so when the time was right, they used a ladder to climb up to the second floor to burglarize her home.
Post-pandemic, high-net-worth individuals' collecting habits have expanded to include more than fine art.
Now, "investments of passion," such as luxury handbags, classic cars, watches, wine, jewelry and rare bottles of whiskey, are more common and vulnerable to this type of crime.
Insurance companies are often willing to insure collectibles, but they expect the owners to handle some of the risk management.
If a claim does arise, insurers may question the collector's role in the loss.
An insurer may cover a bad bottle in a wine collection, for instance, but not without investigating the heat and humidity conditions the collector kept it in.
Top Considerations for Advisors
Life, annuity and investment advisors to HNW individuals play a vital role in helping clients minimize the risk associated with their collections.
Consider the following strategies when working with clients who are interested in investing in collectibles.
1. Don't take anything for granted.
Collectors may assume that their homeowner's insurance covers all of the valuable items in their homes.
When you buy a homeowners policy, you get contents coverage.
A normal amount is 70% of what your house is insured for.
For example: If you receive $1 million in coverage for your house, you would get an additional amount for contents of $700,000.
However, within that $700,000, if you had $100,000 in jewelry, and it was all stolen, you may only get $10,000 total.
Deductibles also apply in many cases.
Asking your client questions can go a long way toward addressing this potential coverage gap.
Find out whether your clients collect passion items like comic books or magazines and ask what type of compensation they want for each one should they have a loss.
Request specific details. If your clients have a collectible fireplace made from stone sourced from Italy, for example, the clients may want coverage for the cost of sourcing that same stone from Italy and rebuilding the fireplace.
The insurance company will return this specificity by insuring your clients' items under a class called "collectibles" and detailing what it expects from the client.
2. Know the risks.
Criminals are getting craftier in the digital age.
Robb Lanham is the chief sales officer at 
