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Does home insurance cover my guns, jewelry, and collectibles? Only up to a line most owners have never read.
Your policy covers the safe, the jewelry box, and the display case. What it pays if they are emptied is a different number, set by a short section called special limits of liability, and it is one of the most carrier-specific numbers in Texas insurance.
The Answer
Yes, and with a catch that matters. Standard Texas policies pay for valuables under your personal property coverage, then cap categories like jewelry, firearms, and collectibles, mostly for theft, often somewhere between 2,500 and 5,000 dollars. Raising a cap or scheduling the item fixes it. The house is covered by default. The valuables are a decision.
Why does the policy cap your best things?
Think of standard personal property coverage like an airline's carry-on allowance. Everyone gets the same generous cabin space for ordinary belongings, and the truly valuable pieces are supposed to be declared and checked properly. Carriers cap small, portable, high-value categories because that is where theft claims and pricing risk concentrate, so the policy ships with a default allowance and lets owners buy the real coverage deliberately. None of that is a problem when you know the line exists. It only becomes a problem when a family finds it at claim time, and by then the price of not declaring is no longer negotiable.
Five Moves That Close the Gap
Find the special limits line in your policy
It sits inside your personal property section, called Coverage C, and lists the capped categories with a dollar figure beside each. For most categories the cap applies to theft, while fire and wind claims usually pay under your full personal property limit. The Texas Department of Insurance home insurance guide walks the standard coverages, and our declarations page walkthrough shows where the numbers live.
Put honest numbers on what you own
Use replacement prices from today, not what you paid, because gold, guns, and collectibles rarely stand still. The close-up footage from the one-hour home inventory is exactly this evidence, serial numbers, appraisals, and receipts filmed beside the items they prove. Ten minutes of adding it up tells you whether your categories clear their caps.
Choose the fix, raise the cap or schedule the item
A blanket increase lifts the whole category without naming pieces, quick and inexpensive for a safe full of working firearms or a drawer of good jewelry. Scheduling, also sold as a personal articles floater or valuable items coverage, names each piece at an agreed value, usually covers more ways to lose it, including simply losing it, and often carries no deductible at all. Serious pieces deserve the schedule. Everything else usually just needs a taller cap.
Ask about firearms by name
This is where Texas carriers truly separate, and why the question deserves its own sentence in every review. On Travelers' highest package tier, unscheduled firearm coverage can currently reach 10,000 dollars without itemizing a single gun. Liberty Mutual can qualify elevated firearm coverage up toward your full Coverage C limit regardless of package. Other carriers hold the low default caps no matter what you pay. Packages and forms change, which is exactly why we check the current Texas paperwork carrier by carrier before recommending anything.
Re-check the caps at every renewal
Values drift, collections grow, and carriers revise their forms, so the answer you set three years ago was for a different safe and a different jewelry box. Two minutes with the special limits line belongs in every renewal review, right beside the roof and the deductibles, so the caps keep pace with the household they protect.
Put your caps next to your valuables
Connect your policy and a licensed McDade broker reads your special limits line beside what you actually own, then shows you what raising each cap really costs.
Check My Special LimitsWhat does raising the caps cost?
Usually less than people brace for. Blanket increases are priced on the added limit, scheduled items are priced on their agreed value, and both tend to cost a small fraction of the first uncovered claim. The honest answer is a quote, because this is one of the most carrier-specific corners of Texas home insurance, and when we run it, we run it across the 50+ top Texas carriers we know well. Then we translate the contract before claim time, so the schedule you buy matches the safe you own instead of the brochure you were handed.
In Texas the gun safe and the jewelry box are part of the household, and many of the policies I review cap them at numbers set long before anyone measured what was actually inside. It is a ten-minute conversation while everything is still on the shelf. That is the version I recommend.
Charles McDade, LUTCF · Founder, McDade Insurance Brokerage Group
Common questions about covering valuables
What are special limits of liability on a home policy?
They are the caps a standard policy places on certain categories of personal property, most often for theft. Jewelry, firearms, silverware, furs, collectibles, and cash are the usual names on the list, and each carries its own dollar figure that can sit well below what the category is worth. The rest of your belongings pay under your full personal property limit.
What does it mean to schedule personal property?
Scheduling names a specific item on your policy at an agreed value, through an endorsement carriers also call a personal articles floater or valuable items coverage. Scheduled pieces are typically covered for more causes of loss, including simply losing them, and often carry no deductible. Jewelry and art usually want a recent appraisal, while firearms can often be scheduled from serial numbers, receipts, and current market values.
Are my firearms covered if they are stolen from my truck?
Your home policy follows your personal property away from the house, so a firearm stolen from a vehicle is a homeowners claim, not an auto claim. The firearm theft cap still applies, and some policies trim off-premises theft further. If a gun regularly travels with you, that is a strong reason to raise the firearm limit or schedule it, and to say so plainly during the review.
Do I need an appraisal to schedule jewelry or guns?
For jewelry and fine art, usually yes once the value is meaningful, and carriers want the appraisal to be recent. For firearms, many carriers accept serial numbers, purchase records, and current market pricing instead. Bring the close-up footage from your home inventory to the conversation and most of the paperwork is already done.
Does it cost anything to review my special limits with McDade?
No. The review is free advisory work, and McDade does not charge broker fees for personal lines clients. About 40 percent of the time we tell clients to stay with their current carrier, and sometimes even with their current agent, because that is the right answer for the family.
The house is covered by default. The valuables are a decision.
Connect your policy or bring the close-up footage, and a licensed McDade broker reads the special limits line you just learned to find, asks the firearm question by name, and shows you exactly what the right caps cost for your safe, your jewelry box, and your walls.
The review is free. The decision is yours. No broker fees for personal lines clients.
