Stamp Insurance

Most philatelists don’t have stamp insurance. They hope that their collections won’t be stolen and that their homes will never be affected by fire or flood. And in most cases they are correct. The rate of home burglaries is low and even if your home is robbed, unless you are a known collector, and the goal of the robbery is to steal your collection, it is unlikely that the burglars will take your stamps. Stamp collections are heavy and typically have a low weight to value ratio compared with jewelry and electronics. They are hard to fence and even if a thief finds a buyer the price is likely to be very low relative to the collection’s real value. Better stamps are likely to have been scanned leaving an electronic trail that makes stamp thieves more likely to be caught than at any time in history. This is all reflected in the extremely low rates for philatelic insurance. So even though you probably don’t need stamp insurance, you probably should have it. The rates are in the $20-$30 per thousand range and can be bought from the American Philatelic Society as an added benefit of membership.