I was wondering what steps others took to protect their collection from burglars. What do you do about insuring your collection? How do you document your collection to illustrate what you have and it's value should it be stolen?

This post was prompted because my house was burglarized; fortunately they did not take any of my collection; they targeted my electronics instead.

I am not happy with how my insurance company has handled my claim and am not confident that they would acknowledge the value of some items in my collection should they ever be stolen.

An off topic note: take steps to protect your personal information and data. I am regretting I have not done so in the past.

I just make sure I have photos of anything that might be valuable, hard to replace, or disputed. I've not had difficulties with my agency in the past but mileage varies and its probably good to keep purchase records as well.

I've got a large gun safe. The most expensive pieces go in there.

You can get a smaller 'stack-on' brand safe pretty cheaply. It's not the best and I wouldn't use it to protect my guns and other valuables, but I would consider it good enough for swords.

Chech this thread out:
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=26969
and follow the links Chad has posted (third/last post down)...

Some good discussion there too.

If your Homeowner's Insurance provider doesn't inspire confidence (not everybody understands or appreciates the things we discuss here, especially if they aren't bona fide antiques) you need to start shopping around, talk to folks who have art collections or custom cars, they may know insurance companies who "get it" better than the neighborhood insurance broker, and can insure just your collection.

-Eric

I have my collection of arms & armour covered by an additional "sports equipment" rider. It was the closest category that my insurance company offered (no items in my collection are antiques). Take pictures and document retail prices for each piece.

I sympathize with you as my house was recently broken into as well. :(

My flat screen is gone, but at least they left my arms & armour alone.

Maybe this doesn't occur to everyone : I new a gent who got burglarized in a
very nice area. He mentioned he had swords stolen when we were talking
about it, so I asked him if he had a large picture-window in his front room. He
said yes. I asked him if he kept the drapes or blinds open or shut ? He said he
didn't like to close them. I noted that someone just passing could look right in
and see at least some of the nice things you have ...

I don't have any of my swords in places where someone could see them just
by looking in a window. That may not be completely possible, depending on
your home, or where you store / display them ...

And while I understand putting one's expensive items in a safe, I've always
thought it defeats the purpose of having something you'd like to admire when
passing it displayed on a wall or shelf ...

prevention is always the best first step to take.

i worked at my local church for years, i noticed the only thing that detoured thieves was to keep the valuables out of sight and therefore out of mind not necessarily under a lock as that was always the first place they looked. of course that's a public place, but your home you can be a little creative and still have that display. you defiantly don't want to set anything up in your picture window like the leg lamp from a Christmas Story, you don't want your collection to be 'obvious' to passersby.

i store my collection like i store firearms with much respect to their potential lethal danger. once i get the time, i am building a big display cabinet for everything i have that i want to display. but i know there is no way to totally protect them from someone who really wants to take them off of me. where there is a will there is a way.


moreover, i did follow this post http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=26969 and the idea of insuring the blades, and Scott Hrouda mentioned :

I have my collection of arms & armour covered by an additional "sports equipment" rider. It was the closest category that my insurance company offered (no items in my collection are antiques). Take pictures and document retail prices for each piece.

but had anyone thought of insuring them under the category of fine art? when you think about it swords and armor are usually in the fine art section of the museum.

I'm very sorry to hear of your misfortune. I hope the thieves are caught and punished.

I'm generally home in the middle of the day, and caught a man casing my house once. I took steps to make sure my valuables were hidden away after that, but as was previously mentioned, I couldn't enjoy them, and when I wanted them, it was a chore to get them. I ended up finding an alarm system and company that I'm VERY satisfied with.

I also take steps to ensure that I'm not advertising my valuables. I utilize my window blinds, and make sure that if I take them out of the house, I keep them covered, or camouflaged and hold them down at my side inconspicuously. Since I am a living historian, I don't go between my vehicle and the house dressed in historical clothing, and advertise I have neat stuff or that I'm leaving for the weekend.

Do have a few firearms and safes are nice for this, but I like to display my collection and it is a bit too large to lock away. Always keep the blinds closed, especially at night. If we are away for more than one night we get a house-sitter, a friend at no charge. And we have good insurance coverage. For some time I also band-aided the situation by posting a phony alarm decal near the front door. In addition, had a small card on the door noting "please use door bell, knocking will set of alarm".

To be honest none of this put me at ease, so I finally bit the bullet and had an alarm system installed. Really didn't like initial cost and monthly billing, but have gotten used to it. Wish I had done so much earlier .....

Cheers,
Dan

My burglar deterrent:

[ Linked Image ]

and
[ Linked Image ]

All joking aside, there is no doubt in my mind that having two patrol certified Malinois in the house is a discouraging factor to any potential burglars. The police car parked in the driveway helps, as the burglars also know that the homeowner is armed.

After countless interviews with suspects, they all will tell you the same thing, target houses are chosen for simplicity and risk/ benefits analysis. Dogs, motion lights, surveillance cameras, fences, cars in the driveway, proximity of neighbors, likelihood of homeowner being armed, etc. will all go a long way to reducing risk of residential burglaries. In short, if a house looks easy, it will be much more appealing to the thief.

Of course all these factors are out the window if the burglary is committed by a family member, which many are (adult children trying to support their drug habit, preying on their own family, is a noticeable percentage of burglaries/ thefts).

My collection is stored under lock and key. While not burglar-proof, it would slow them down enough for my 90 pound labrador to talk them into leaving.

[img][/img]

I'm beginning to believe that the best defence against "random" burglary is a house that cannot be seen from the road. I've noticed that burglaries that occur in houses not seen from the road are always perpetrated by someone who had previously been there, as a guest or perhaps a contractor doing some work. I'm careful about who actually gets to see my house......