Topic: Appraising/Insuring Your 78rpm Collection

[Shovel]

Does anyone have any pointers on how to get your 78 rpm collection appraised and/or insured?

I thought perhaps a record store might appraise, but none of the local stores know much about 78's.

Any guidance or hard won knowledge would be appreciated

Thank you,

[frankie]

This is bound to be tedious, and not guaranteed to have all examples of the records in your particular collection, but you can try searching on popsike or discogs:

http://www.popsike.com/
http://www.discogs.com/

It's mainly vinyl, but there are some 78s.

You can also search closed auctions on ebay (and this is basically what popsike does).

Like I said...  tedious... but you also may be able to get a general idea based on a few searches and then generalize from there. For insurance purposes, maybe that's good enough...

[nobocaster]

Do you have the American Premium Record Guide by Les Docks?  It's almost all 78's and very worth having for anyone who collects.  The last printing was 2001 (that I'm aware of anyway).  It is a good starting point, although there are records in the book that go for far more, or way less than what is listed.

[uncle bud]

Perhaps Nauck's would be able to point you in the right direction http://www.78rpm.com/

[Lignite]

I second Nobocaster's suggestion. Les Dock's is your best guide for values of 78 records. It gives you an idea of which ones are rarer or more collectible than others.

[Shovel]

Thanks everybody, so it doesn't sound like you need a 3rd party to valuate it, you can do document your records and then insure them for that amount ... I was thinking there may be more to it than that.  This is very helpful, all replies appreciated, thank you.

[bnemerov]

Shovel,
You've got it right, I think. Whatever you and the insurance co. agree on IS the value.
You do need a 3rd party (and a "qualified" one at that) to appraise your collection for the taxman---if you were to donate the collection to an archive and take a tax write-off, for example.
Moral: The taxman is much tougher than the insurance man.
best,
bruce

[Shovel]

Shovel,
You've got it right, I think. Whatever you and the insurance co. agree on IS the value.
You do need a 3rd party (and a "qualified" one at that) to appraise your collection for the taxman---if you were to donate the collection to an archive and take a tax write-off, for example.
Moral: The taxman is much tougher than the insurance man.
best,
bruce

haha, makes sense, thanks bruce.