Are old insurance documents any use?

[elfinblues]

Hello everyone. I've recently come into possession of a ring binder full of my grandparents' old insurance documents. It's mostly correspondence between them and their insurers, receipts, policy details, war damage correspondence, etc. I've looked through it and snagged a few documents that contain snippets of obviously useful info, but most of it seems to be of limited informational value. However, I am very much a newcomer to these sorts of records, so could I ask - am I missing something? Does anyone know if these kinds of records can be a useful way into unlocking information that I might be unaware of? Or are they really likely to just be dusty old documents that I could bin without worry?
By nature I am a hoarder, and my tendency is always to hold on to things that were important to my family or, by association, to me. But our house is full to bursting and I need to start being a bit more realistic about selecting what to keep. Many of these documents are quite attractive - even on the most mundane piece of correspondence the letterheads are so much more beautiful than what we see nowadays and, if I'm honest with myself, I'm loath to get rid of anything that my grandparents obviously held onto for, in some cases, over seventy years, however little value they really hold. But I would be grateful for any pointers anyone could give me as to whether these might be more useful than they, at first, appear.
Many thanks, all.

[Billyblue]

Assuming they are insurance records for their home/s, then they are confirmation of where they lived, and when, if you want/need that information.
They may also tell you if the homes were under mortgage or owned outright.

You could probably weed out all the insurance companies' 'blurb' that comes with the insurance certificate.

Dawn M

[Roger The Hat]

Wish I had stuff that had belonged to my grandparents...............!

When my father died my mother threw out all of the old paperwork that would have subsequently been more helpful than I could have imagined at the time.............
 
Got to agree with Dawn - throw out the junk, but keep anything with a relevant address and date on it. Your choice, but it might become very important in your research to be able to place certain people in a certain place, at a certain time, in the future..............!

[hurworth]

War damage correspondence sounds rather interesting to me, and it sounds like you've already flagged that as being of particular interest.

Stuff that seems like trivia now can be very interesting later on.  If you really don't have room could you scan it and save it digitally?  Insurance stuff could be of interest in the future, as there is probably an insured value etc.

I wish I knew exactly where some of my ancestors lived 100 years ago.   For some of them I don't have a street address - just the town.

[elfinblues]

Yes, I guess that's part of my worry - that I'll throw something away and then regret it, or find out further down the line that it could have been useful.

As for addresses, yes - you're right. I guess that because I'm already fortunate enough to know the addresses they lived at and whether they were owned or mortgaged, it didn't occur to me to appreciate these documents for that value. I think I was wondering whether there was anything additional that I'd be able to wring out of them/whether they'd give me access to anything I don't already know. But yes, Dawn, I'm sure there's some weeding out that can be safely done. But it's going to be very difficult to do, when even a receipt is a work of art! They're only from the 30's, 40's and 50's - not particularly old - but they're so nice to look at and such timepieces.

And Roger, yes - I am lucky. I guess I often look at other people who have more things that belonged to their grandparents, etc. than I do, but all in all I'm pretty fortunate. It certainly helps.

[Marmalady]

Maybe offer them to your local Record Office?

Such mundane items can help build up a full picture of "how people lived then"

[purlin]

Check out eBay theres all manner of old documents for sale there.  If as you say they are attractive they may well appeal to collectors of such ephemera.