It is extremely important to have your special pieces of jewelry properly insured in case the worst happens and you suffer a loss. Jewelry pieces are often items of high sentimental value that make a loss exceptionally painful to bear, especially as a result of crime. So the last thing you want to happen is to find out that you’re underinsured and can’t replace what you’ve lost at current market prices. Since the prices of metals and stones fluctuate all the time, how do you revalue your jewelry each year for the annual policy renewal, whether it is for a specialized jewelry insurance policy or a general household goods policy? with a section to secure jewelry?
The easiest and most accurate way to update your jewelry appraisals is to pay for a professional annual jewelry appraisal. However, jewelry appraisals are not cheap, with prices typically charged 1-2% of the jewelry’s total value. With jewelry prices rising as a result of rising commodity prices, this pricing method automatically means that the charges made for appraisals have risen considerably in recent years. Many people do not want to pay for a professional jewelry appraisal every year. So how do you estimate a discounted value for your jewelry for insurance policy purposes yourself?
The first thing you should do is talk to your insurance company. You may be required to have your jewelry professionally revalued each year. If this is the case, then you have no choice but to get a professional appraisal on an annual basis. However, it will be worth looking around to see if you can find a jeweler who will do the first initial charge and then charge a nominal amount for the annual upgrade.
After talking to your insurance company and finding out that they don’t require a professional annual appraisal, you go ahead and decide to do your own estimates. First, she puts you back in contact with the insurance company and asks if they have a general rule of thumb for percentage changes to pieces of jewelry, which you might wear. However, even if they do, it is reassuring to confirm their number with your own calculations. If you have gold jewelry, then the best way to do this is to take the price you paid for the jewelry, use the internet to find out the percentage movement in the price of gold since you bought the item, and apply that figure to the price you paid for it. . This would also apply to items made in silver. Gold and silver prices are widely available on the Internet. Try to use metal prices denominated in your own currency. If you were a UK resident but used US dollar metal prices, then you would not be including the effect of exchange rate movements between the US dollar and sterling. Be sure not to simply price per gram to your item, as this would significantly underestimate the value of your item, ignoring the part value over and above the raw material value.
However, what do you do if your piece of jewelry contains diamonds as well as metal, such as an engagement ring with a princess cut solitaire diamond? The safest way to secure your pieces is always through a professional appraisal, but if you’re absolutely set on going the do-it-yourself route, then you need to have a benchmark that divides metal value and value. Diamonds This would be virtually impossible to do yourself as a layman and only a professional jewelry appraiser could provide you with this information. So your strategy might be to ask for this information when purchasing the item, but don’t expect light jewelry sales assistants to know this information. You will only get this type of information from a ‘proper’ jeweler with many years of experience in the industry. Alternatively, ask for a professional jewelry appraisal and ask for a split of the appraisal into diamond value and metal value. Once you have your reference point, search the internet for “diamond prices” and calculate a percentage movement in diamond prices and a percentage movement in metal prices and apply the values to your piece.
Whether you’re revaluing gold jewelry or diamond-set jewelry, if you find that the value of your piece has gone down, it’s safest to keep the value fixed or constant for insurance purposes, as jewelry retailers are generally reluctant to reduce their prices. A small overvaluation of your jewelry for insurance purposes is considerably safer than an undervaluation.