Hobby insurance is crucial for collectors to help protect their sports card and memorabilia collections from theft or damage.

By John Newman

Regardless of the size of your collection, it’s a pretty safe bet that it’s valuable to you.

It may have taken you many years to build and you are probably still adding to it. If you’re like me and most collectors, you also get some of your inventory through the mail. And maybe you sell sometimes, requiring you to ship cards out as well. It’s a natural cycle of collecting.

What we sometimes take for granted is protecting our cards, and I’m not talking about just soft sleeves and top loaders.

I recently had Dan Lorber of Stadium Insurance on the podcast to talk about protecting your cherished inventory from fire, water damage, weather, theft etc.

Dan Lorber of Stadium Insurance.
Sports Card Nation

It seems like every day we read about cards lost to natural disaster, theft or burglary. Theft can happen at multiple locales, like an LCS, your home, at a card show, your hotel room, or even from behind a hotel front desk. 

A card case at Gizmo’s Sportscards shows Mickey Mantle cards missing following an alleged theft at the 2022 National Sports Collectors Convention in Atlantic City.
Gizmo’s Sportscards

We hope it never happens, but it’s nice to know companies like Stadium Insurance or SCD advertiser Finkelmeier Insurance Agency exists that can protect us and make it less painful if our hobby nightmare becomes reality.

Lorber has been in the hobby and insurance industry for 30 years. He’s a West Coast guy who loves his San Francisco teams, the 49ers and Giants. He loves attending the National Sports Collectors Convention but now he can do it representing his new company.

Lorber pointed out that people can be intimidated by insurance sometimes. Many believe it’s too expensive and hard to set up; I have to enter all my inventory into a spreadsheet or write it down on paper; or my homeowners insurance covers me. However, most of that is actually not factually correct.

Before we tackle those topics, I want to be fully transparent here. Yes, I have insurance on my inventory, but it’s not through Stadium—not yet. I personally want to tell you that a rider on your homeowner’s policy is really not the way to go because, frankly, they have no expertise in the sports card or memorabilia realm, grading or the value difference between a raw Nolan Ryan rookie card or one graded PSA 8. Sure, they know the replacement value on a water heater or roof, but hobby inventory is not their bag.

Lorber’s company is run by collectors who know the hobby. They know what we’re feeling after an unfortunate event, what we are going through, but, most importantly, what value has actually been lost.

Lorber points out that insurance is more affordable than people think. Plans can be accommodating to hobbyists and tailored to their collection and how they operate. And you do not necessarily need to write down or list everything you own; just a quick 15- to 20-minute video log of your inventory suffices in most cases. However, the more organized you are, the better off you are in general.

Lorber also pointed out something you may not be aware of—collectibles and card insurance also covers anything you mail, or anything someone mails to you (providing the right protocols are followed). That’s huge!

As someone who sends and receives a lot of cards through various carriers, I can attest to the peace of mind that comes with knowing that you are covered. Speaking of ease, Stadium Insurance is the only company in the space currently offering an app with full functionality.

I know this piece may read like a semi-infomercial, but the importance of the topic cannot be ignored. It’s a rare day now when we don’t hear or read of a store or home burglary, a dealer getting something snatched, or a natural disaster wiping out someone’s longtime hobby work. It needs to be discussed and considered, and I’m glad my position allows me to share needed information sometimes.

Feel free to contact Lorber at stadiuminsurance.com.