Should You Insure Your Coin Collection? Our Honest View.

Here is a question collectors ask us from time to time: should I insure my coin collection?

Okay, here is our personal view. We think there is real value in insuring your coin collection. We are not insurance advisers, and your circumstances are your own, but we have seen enough over more than 40,000 orders to know collections grow in value faster than people expect. A coin here, a proof set there. Five years on, you are holding something worth protecting.

Insurance is only useful if you can prove what you owned. That is where most collectors fall down. So here are our practical tips, learned from watching what works.

Keep a list of every coin you own. A simple spreadsheet is fine. Record what it is, when you bought it and what you paid. Update it when you add to the collection, not months later from memory.

Take photos. Photograph the coins themselves and photograph the collection where it is stored. Images showing both the items and their location make a claim far easier to support.

Keep all your purchase receipts. Every one. Digital or paper, filed somewhere you can find them. A receipt is the cleanest evidence there is of what you owned and what it cost.

This type of evidence will be essential should you ever make a claim. Insurers deal in proof. A well-documented collection gets settled. A collection that exists only in your memory is a much harder conversation, usually at the worst possible time.

One more thought. Store your documentation separately from the coins. A list kept in the same cabinet as the collection does not help you if both are lost together. A copy in the cloud or at a relative's home costs nothing.

None of this takes long. An afternoon of photographing and listing, then a few minutes each time you buy. Cheap insurance for your insurance, if you like.

Mint Coin Shop is locally owned and run, and every purchase from us comes with a proper receipt for exactly this reason.

Browse the range at www.mintcoinshop.com.au.