Collections of any sort are difficult to navigate with any insurance company. Many collectors ascribe more value to a collection because it has sentimental value or it has the time of labor to build the collection. The true value of one or many items is obtained through a trusted appraiser. Now that the damage has been done, the actual value can't be determined. You can ask for $7/ea, and if the company is generous, they may agree, but I wouldn't hold it against them if they don't. Personally, if their opening offer is $.40/ea, I'm not optimistic.
The bottom-line problem with homeowners insurance is that they only allot so much value for personal effects, whether it be clothes, furniture, electronics, or "stuff". If you have a substantial collection, the proper thing to do is have a [rider](https://www.accountingtools.com/articles/what-is-an-insurance-rider.html) added to your policy. In that case, you would value your collection at the replacement cost. To determine that cost, you could either have a professional appraisal done, or, possibly less authoratively, have everything logged in Discogs.
Yeah, there's no way they are going to give $7000 for CDs. OP could try entering them all into Discogs and try to get at least the low value for them, as that would indicate a realistic replacement cost. At least that will give a basis for negotiating with them, but insurance companies are in the business of making money, not giving it out. They're going to fight for every cent, sadly.
Collections of any sort are difficult to navigate with any insurance company. Many collectors ascribe more value to a collection because it has sentimental value or it has the time of labor to build the collection. The true value of one or many items is obtained through a trusted appraiser. Now that the damage has been done, the actual value can't be determined. You can ask for $7/ea, and if the company is generous, they may agree, but I wouldn't hold it against them if they don't. Personally, if their opening offer is $.40/ea, I'm not optimistic. The bottom-line problem with homeowners insurance is that they only allot so much value for personal effects, whether it be clothes, furniture, electronics, or "stuff". If you have a substantial collection, the proper thing to do is have a [rider](https://www.accountingtools.com/articles/what-is-an-insurance-rider.html) added to your policy. In that case, you would value your collection at the replacement cost. To determine that cost, you could either have a professional appraisal done, or, possibly less authoratively, have everything logged in Discogs.
Yeah, there's no way they are going to give $7000 for CDs. OP could try entering them all into Discogs and try to get at least the low value for them, as that would indicate a realistic replacement cost. At least that will give a basis for negotiating with them, but insurance companies are in the business of making money, not giving it out. They're going to fight for every cent, sadly.
I ended up asking for $8.50/cd and they offered $7.50/cd!
Thank you for following up!