Specie
Class of the London market covering very high unit-value property, including fine art, precious metals, cash, jewelry and collectibles.
Over the 2015 Easter weekend, burglars drilled through the wall of the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit in London and emptied more than seventy boxes. Police estimated the haul at 14 million pounds. One site, dozens of depositors, each insured separately: the very shape of an accumulation loss in specie. The class, a London market term, covers property whose value far exceeds its function or material: fine art, precious metals in vaults or in transit, cash and securities, jewelry, gemstones, collections. It is defined less by the object than by its profile, very high unit value, few but severe losses, and exposure concentrated on transit, handling and storage. Business is written on agreed value, on expert judgment more than statistics, and specialist Lloyd's syndicates hold the market. High-security warehouses and freeports concentrate a considerable share of insured value, hence per-location sub-limits used to cap the aggregate.
Textbook case: a London syndicate writes the contents of a Geneva high-security warehouse on a specie basis: paintings, bullion and jewelry are covered under agreed value policies, with per-location sub-limits to contain accumulation risk. Dated case: over the 2015 Easter weekend, burglars drilled through the wall of the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit in London and emptied more than seventy boxes, a haul the police estimated at 14 million pounds: one site, dozens of depositors, the very shape of the line's accumulation loss.
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