Protect your most prized jewellery pieces with an insurance valuation. Now you’re covered if you lose your engagement ring or accidentally damage your grandmother’s pearl necklace. After all, your jewellery isn’t just something pretty to wear, it holds special memories, milestones, and investment value.
Life happens but with the right insurance, you can be prepared for most eventualities. Let’s discuss the importance of jewellery valuations and how they work.
What is a Jewellery Insurance Valuation?
An insurance jewellery valuation is where a trained jewellery expert carries out an assessment on an item (or items) of jewellery to determine their current replacement value. This ensures you have financial coverage on your cherished jewellery items, such as engagement and wedding rings, and can make a claim in the event of loss, theft, or damage.
Why is a Jewellery Insurance Valuation Important?
It’s important to have special items of jewellery valued for insurance purposes to ensure you have the correct level of insurance coverage. This means that in the tragic event your beloved item of jewellery was lost, stolen, or damaged, you will receive an insurance payout that will finance its replacement.
While we realise it’s not about the money but rather the sentimental value of the piece, having the means to replace something special to you after it’s gone can be of great comfort when things go awry.
What are the Types of Jewellery Valuation?
There are numerous types of jewellery valuation. Understanding what these are and how they work will help you establish the type of jewellery valuation you need. So, let’s take a look:
Insurance
An insurance jewellery valuation is when an item of jewellery is professionally valued to ensure the replacement amount is similar to the value of the item itself.
Probate
Probate valuations help determine the value of a deceased person’s assets. This is important for accurately calculating inheritance tax and ensuring an individual’s assets are correctly distributed to their beneficiaries. Probate is only required on items over the value of £150,000.
Family Division
Family division valuation is used for determining jewellery value while divorce proceedings are underway. The value of jewellery items in this case will be based on open market values at the time of valuation.
Final Value
This is the value that we may offer to purchase your jewellery at. If you are looking to sell your jewellery, accepting the final value will ensure you get a good price without the hassle of finding another buyer.
It’s worth noting that the above is certainly not an exhaustive list of reasons why you may need a valuation. If you are unsure, please do get in touch with us. We’d be happy to answer your questions and provide further information and support as necessary.
Meet Kathy, our head of jewellery valuations here at Cry for the Moon.
Who Values Jewellery for Insurance Purposes?
You should only have your jewellery assessed for insurance purposes by a fully trained and qualified jewellery appraiser. These professionals can be contacted at local, reputable jewellers. However you can also contact The National Association of Jewellers who provide jewellery valuations.
Cry for the Moon’s Jewellery Valuer
Our valuer, Kathy, has worked with jewellery for over 40 years and been with us for over a decade. Kathy gained her Fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain (FGA) in 1981 and has worked all around the world, including: South Africa, New York with the Tenzanite Foundation and Theo Fennel London. Her extensive experience shows her expertise and the quality of her service offering.
What Will a Jewellery Appraiser Consider?
A qualified jewellery appraiser will take into consideration factors such as, the type of metal, size, weight, gemstone or diamond quality, and overall craftsmanship. Unfortunately, the emotional and sentimental significance the jewellery item has to you personally is not taken into consideration.
To ensure accurate insurance valuations with detailed descriptions and photos, we always encourage our customers to provide the relevant paperwork and gemstone certificates (if these are available). This is because once a gemstone is set it cannot be weighted or viewed. As such, having the original paperwork and gemstone certificates to hand can provide us with the most accurate and up-to-date information to work with.
What’s Included in the Valuation Report?
Once the valuation is complete, a valuation report will be drawn up that includes a detailed description of the item of jewellery, a photograph of the item, and a write-up of the assessed value.
The level of detail required in the report will depend on the type of valuation you request. For particularly detailed valuation reports, you can expect the following to be included:
- Appearance
- Metals and finesse of metals
- Gemstones (sizes and carat weights)
- Dimensions
- Weight
- Marks (hallmarks and other additional marks of note)
- Personalisation, such as engravings
- Branding Description
- High-quality photographs of the jewellery item(s)
Keep Your Valuation Up-to-Date
As we all know, prices fluctuate. It’s the reality of the world we live in. Therefore, to keep your policy valid it’s important that you make sure all your jewellery is kept up to date. Typically, insurers require your jewellery pieces to be re-evaluated every 2-3 years because:
The price of precious metals and gemstones change
Insurance policies may be updated with new requirements
Staying up-to-date prevents under-insuring where you may not get full replacement value.
Items Losing Value
As you might expect, valuing any item of jewellery is a mix of facts and experience. Whilst we take great care in our jewellery valuations, there are many variations and elements can change the replacement cost of items. If your item appears to have lost value and you have questions or concerns, we are always happy to help.
What are the Benefits of Hiring a Qualified Valuer?
Accurate Jewellery Valuation: a qualified jewellery valuer will ensure that your jewellery is accurately valued for insurance purposes. This ensures that you are correctly insured and that you don’t miss out when making a claim.
Peace of Mind: a reputable jewellery valuer will give you peace of mind that your prized items (especially those with sentimental value) are being valued by someone who understands jewellery and knows what they are doing. In this industry, expertise and experience is everything.
Supports Insurance Claims: a jewellery valuation that has been carried out by an experienced and qualified valuer can ensure that your insurance claim is processed smoothly and efficiently. It reduces the likelihood of questions being raised and delays in the process, helping you get your money back faster so that you can move forward with your life.
Trusting Your Jewellery Valuer
A question people often ask is, can I trust my jewellery valuer? We understand that it can feel nerve-wracking leaving your most sentimental and precious jewellery items with a professional for valuation. What if they swap out the diamond for a fake? What if they damage the jewellery? What if they lose the item?
We always recommend that you find a jewellery valuer you can trust. You want to feel confident your jewellery will be appropriately looked after and returned to you safely.
Some valuers offer face-to-face jewellery valuations which can be a great option if you’re feeling particularly nervous about leaving your jewellery with a stranger.
Avoid Online Jewellery Valuations
You can now have a jewellery valuation carried out online. In fact, online-only valuations have become increasingly more common. However, unfortunately, they provide valuations far from the required standard.
As you might expect, without the proper grading and testing, gemstones can be misidentified and the value of jewellery pieces can be miscalculated. What’s more, key details to jewellery pieces such as measurements and laser inscriptions can be overlooked which may lead to further pricing errors.
Ultimately, the result of online jewellery valuations is inflated insurance premiums and insufficient coverage. Therefore, we always recommend that you prioritise an in-person jewellery valuation with a qualified and experienced professional, such as Kathy from Cry for the Moon.
Do I Require a Jewellery Valuation?
The last thing we want you to do is pay for a jewellery valuation that simply isn’t needed. Therefore, we encourage you to check your insurance policy before pursuing a jewellery valuation. This is because many insurance policies automatically cover items in your home under what’s commonly referred to as ‘general contents insurance’. This includes jewellery.
So, find out what the single article limit is on your home insurance policy. Typically, it’s between £1,500 – £2,500. If your general contents insurance covers the value of your jewellery item, as well as accidental damage protection, a jewellery valuation is not required.
Checking your insurance policy could help you save money on undertaking unnecessary jewellery valuations, so it’s always worth looking into first before you proceed.
Final Words
At Cry for the Moon, we have a wealth of jewellery experience and knowledge. We don’t just sell beautiful jewellery, we ensure it’s protected, too. If you would like to explore a jewellery valuation with us, please get in touch with a member of our team. We’d be happy to help.
Together we can ensure your jewellery is professionally and accurately valued to protect its monetary and sentimental value.
