The Lion in the Abandoned Building

Bert Lahr''s Cowardly Lion costume from The Wizard of Oz was made of real lion skin and fur — so hot under studio lights that it went into an industrial drying bin every night to dry out Lahr''s sweat. After production, MGM had no notion that movie costumes would ever be worth anything. The Lion was bundled up and forgotten in one of the oldest buildings on the lot.

It sat there for decades. It was ultimately rescued by a junk dealer who was simply cleaning out the abandoned structure — the costume was days from being landfill. Acquired by The Comisar Collection and conserved at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, it was authenticated by analysis of the unique fur swirls, which matched it to key screen scenes.

In November 2014, at Bonhams'' TCM auction in New York, the Cowardly Lion sold for $3,077,000 — displayed on a custom figure whose face was cast from Bert Lahr''s own son.

The lo.st takeaway: The costume survived by pure chance: one junk dealer who looked twice. Institutional loss is the biggest category of loss there is — assets that organizations own but can no longer see. Coverage means knowing what you have and where it is.