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At WorthPoint, the world’s largest online resource for researching, valuing, and preserving antiques, art, and collectibles, we have introduced another product for our subscribers. The WorthPoint Vault is a virtual storage service for collectors to keep documentation, photos, and price information on their valuables. The idea is to create a secure and private tool that allows collectors to organize and categorize their items. The Vault will provide access to our Price Guide for item values and will generate a WorthScore that determines the current value for each item that collectors own.
Will Seippel, CEO of WorthPoint, has a personal interest in maintaining information on the items collectors have in their homes. In September of 2022, Hurricane Ian roared ashore on the west coast of Florida, making initial landfall on Cayo Costa Island and devastating the nearby communities of Ft. Meyers, Captiva Island, and Sanibel. Sensors recorded the highest wind gust in Grove City, FL, at 128 mph, and several other areas, including a NOAA station on Captiva Island, recorded gusts over 120 mph. Seippel’s Florida home was a total loss, sustaining severe damage. The contents were also a total loss, especially after black mold set in on the structure.
Seippel was insured, but the process for claiming the loss, providing records of the contents and assets in the home, and dealing with adjusters, claims reps, and contractors was arduous. While he has an extensive background in antiques and collectibles, even Seippel did not have a handy inventory of his possessions, including photos, appraisals, and the history behind his collections. Even if he had photos or paperwork, the total loss of his home would have wiped those out alongside his belongings.
WorthPoint now offers a solution for collectors, homeowners, and anyone who has precious possessions in their home. The WorthPoint Vault allows paid subscribers to curate a list of their valuable items, including photos, insurance information, and the history behind any special items.
Seippel notes that every family has heirlooms that have monetary value, but there are also other pieces of family history, like letters, photos, or even sentimental items like baby shoes or favorite toys, that people keep because of the memories they hold. He said, “It all matters. Whether it’s high-end artwork or just a photo or letter; what we keep has meaning.”
Subscribers currently have access to the Price Guide, along with the Dictionary feature, a virtual Library of books and resources for collectors, and the Marks database. These are all included and available to users who want to catalog a digital repository of their items. Users can add photos, videos, written text, and examples from the Price Guide for any item in their Vault. The information is private by default. Users will not have to opt in for privacy; it’s already part of the product, and WorthPoint will never share users’ items, descriptions, and photos. Users can share a link to their collections if they wish, but they have control over who sees their Vault.
Seippel explained, “Nobody knows what’s in your house better than you—not the bank, the insurance company, or anyone else. The Vault is a way for anyone to safely back up the information, value, and history of anything they own. It’s safe, secure, and available should the worst happen.”
The WorthPoint Vault, along with the Price Guide and users’ photos and documents, is a seamless way to integrate data points on selling prices and values, the history behind specific items, and even users’ memories of how they acquired their treasures. Seippel explained,
There is a story behind everything. Documenting that goes beyond just the appraised value of a particular piece. It’s about creating a legacy, almost a form of immortality. A storm or other disaster can take out your home and your property, but the memories shouldn’t be lost too. I’ve dealt with a disaster, and the insurance companies, contractors, and federal agencies can be complicated. With the kind of records the WorthPoint Vault allows users to create and maintain, a lot of that hassle can be reduced.
While records and documentation are invaluable in case of a disaster, it’s not the only way the Vault can help manage items. Will recalled donating some household goods to Habitat for Humanity. When the truck arrived, he took a picture of each item as it was loaded up and attached it to the files in his WorthPoint Vault. “When the IRS needed a record of what I donated,” he explained, “I had photos, documents, Price Guide values, and ownership records to support the deductions on my tax return; it made it so much easier.”
The Vault also helpful for family members. When a person passes away, a will and estate plan usually deal with finances, but for other items, it can be challenging for the family to know what someone might want to happen to their collections after they are gone. Vintage experts and antique professionals will say that younger adults don’t want things like holiday china, crystal, and “big brown furniture.”
While that may be true in the marketplace, if family members know the story behind that odd painting, the flower vase on the mantel, or a clock on the wall, they might decide to keep it. Seippel thinks of it as a way “to get others excited about what we’ve collected. To tell the stories of these bits and pieces to the next generation.”
Keeping a detailed record of meaningful items helps for tax purposes and insurance issues, but it’s more than that. The Vault provides a way to connect future generations to the past and to preserve the stories behind what we choose to treasure. The WorthPoint Vault makes sure the stories behind the items you love are safely stored for the future.
Brenda Kelley Kim lives in the Boston area. She is the author of Sink or Swim: Tales From the Deep End of Everywhere and writes a weekly syndicated column for The Marblehead Weekly News/Essex Media Group. When not writing or walking her snorty pug, Penny, she enjoys yard sales, flea markets, and badminton.
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