It’s the beginning of the year and many of us have the over-whelming urge to GET ORGANIZED! One way to channel that energy is to create an inventory of your assets. An itemized list of your collection, kept in a secure location, is an excellent record in the event that items are stolen or damaged. How do you go about making such a list that will be sufficiently detailed to provide adequate documentation? Start with a pencil, a camera, measuring tape and a free weekend, and you are on your way.
Let’s take for example a fine art collection. Paintings, drawings and prints may be scattered throughout the house and are of various values. Rather than list all the paintings in the entire house, then all the drawings etc., it is most efficient to list the objects room-by-room. Within the living room, however, you may want to list all the paintings, then all the watercolors—it is not necessary to order them as you see them. If you are planning an inventory of more than one collection, for example wines and antique furniture, you may want to do a separate listing using the same methodology.
How do you describe a particular object so that it is readily identifiable? Start with what it is, and be as specific as possible. A description like “upholstered green chair” will not help your insurance agent nearly as much as “A Queen Anne Mahogany Easy Chair, Boston (1740-1760)” with a detailed description of the upholstery, seat shape and the appearance of the legs. If possible, name the wood, the approximate age and the provenance (from where it came). Each item should be measured accurately. A piece of flat art is measured by the stretcher-size of the canvas, not the frame size, so be sure to measure within the frame, which is most easily done by removing the picture from the wall and determining the size on the back. Sculptures, like furniture, should have height, width and depth assessments. Consider the condition of each example, and whether there have been any restorations made to it (these should be noted within your description). Photograph each piece, and when the inventory is done, make sure you label the photographs with the corresponding number in your listing. If you know when and where a piece was purchased and have the sales slip, so much the better. Keep all of this documentation together along with any previous professional appraisals that have been done.
You may or may not feel comfortable assigning a price to each piece in your collection. Certainly, if you have documentation, like a sales slip, your job is easier. Antique furniture, as well as fine art, goes in and out of style, and its monetary value is predicated on fashion, but also on rarity, style, condition and provenance. If you are unsure of how much your items are worth, but suspect they may be valuable, it is advisable to hire a professional appraiser to examine those items.
Having a detailed inventory of your collections in a safety-deposit box is a great and secure way to start the New Year. The very process of looking at your possessions in an objective way can help you “weed out” things you no longer need or want, while giving you a new appreciation of some things you may have been taking for granted. Who knows, you may find yourself researching the artist of such a painting or finding out about a style of decorative arts, and a whole new hobby may be born.
Collectors who own a Chubb valuable articles policy will soon be able to use Masterpiece Manager, a personal online solution for documenting information about your collection. Masterpiece Manager will be available in the spring of 2002.
