How Do You Value High-Value Items and Collections Lost in a Wildfire?

High-value items such as fine art, jewelry, watches, firearms, musical instruments, and collections are valued individually, through research into comparable sales, provenance, maker or brand, and condition, rather than folded into a general household estimate. Litigation and claims processes increasingly ask for this distinction directly: the Eaton fire litigation's CMO 3 damages questionnaire, for example, separately requests the results of any professional appraisal for an item or collection valued above $10,000.

Why individual treatment matters

Ordinary household contents can reasonably be grouped by room or category with an aggregate value. High-value items can't be, because their worth depends on specifics a general estimate misses entirely: a signed piece versus an unsigned one, a documented provenance versus none, a rare maker's mark versus a common one. Treating a valuable collection as part of a generic "household goods" line typically understates it, sometimes significantly.

Every item in an Ember report is classified into one of three confidence tiers depending on what survived to document it: photo-identified, where a dated image shows the piece in the home; document-identified, where a receipt, prior appraisal, or insurance schedule supports it; or owner-attested, where a detailed written description stands in for an image. The tier is disclosed on every line, so a reviewer can see exactly what the value rests on.

If your loss includes art, jewelry, instruments, or a collection that deserves individual treatment rather than a household average, request a contents appraisal and tell us what you're working with.