My boyfriend and I are big time collectors. My collection focuses on Batman, while his collection is all Star Wars. It’s safe to say when his collection starts to take over the entire house, his array of collectibles are in a league of their own!
My significant other has spent his entire life collecting and his collectibles have become a massive source of nostalgia for him. There are vintage Star Wars toys from the 1970s that he had since his childhood, over 300 individual issues of comic books, and a plethora of new pieces he’s added in recent years. Some are worth some serious money – but to him, they are all priceless.
Image: Jess Del Pino
I couldn’t help but ask myself what if something happened to them? What if he couldn’t replace them? How could I prevent this? Maybe we could get his collection insured? But how do I even go about doing something like this? Just thinking of these things felt overwhelming at first. So, I spent months doing research on what I could do to help protect his toy collection. Then I finally came up with a game plan – I would catalog his entire collection! The idea was to create some kind of a database. Something that would list out everything he has so we could get protection. It seemed tedious but easy enough.
I quickly learned that this endeavor was going to take more than just listing out every item in his collection. When presenting collectible items to an insurance company there needs to be a ton of research to back up your claim that an item is worth what you say it is. Of course, this all hinges on the current market value of what someone is willing to purchase the item for. Then, there has to be validation that what you are claiming you have is, in fact, the item. That’s when I decided I needed to develop my own system to thoroughly record all the information needed for this. My own cataloging system!
Image: Jess Del Pino
Every serious collector should consider creating or entrusting someone to build a database of their precious items. The database can be used for personal inventory to keep you from buying multiples of something or have an idea of an item’s worth for sale later. It is also important when it comes to ensuring your more valuable or priceless pieces. It takes a lot of time and research but it’s definitely worth it!
If you’re interested in cataloging your collection make sure you keep an eye out for my next article where I will take a deep dive into my process!
Have you cataloged your collection? Have any tips? Let us know in the comments!
