It seems like many of us are at the age where jewelry from our Moms is being passed down and some of it is considered ‘valuable.’ In our case, MIL had some items that are of no interest to anyone and the difference between an appraised value and the amount anyone is willing to pay for them is sad.
On some items we might keep, insurance has been encouraged. How do you decide if you’re going to insure jewelry? It seems weird to see that anything to be sold might be lucky to net 1/4-1/3 of the appraised value and then turn around to insure something at appraised value.
Have not insured any individual pieces of jewelry. Even if we inherit a bunch of it from my mom, don’t think I will insure. She’s just stored it in her safety deposit box and has no idea what she has. I don’t see any point in insuring myself as I wouldn’t be heartbroken if the pieces vanished–no sentimental or financial attachment.
I insure two rings that I wear every day. Because I wear them every day and I’d miss them if I lost them.
If it’s something you don’t plan to use…at all…put it in a safety deposit box instead.
We insure the valuable things we use.
If no one likes the style of the jewelry, you can have it remade by a good jeweler. I only have a couple pieces of value and don’t bother to insure since I wouldn’t replace them if anything happened to them as they only have sentimental value to me. They are either in a home safe or being worn.
I was going to insure my mom’s diamond ring after I inherited it because she had it insured with an appraised value of $9500. So I took it to a reputable local dealer and learned it had a small chip, so not only was the FMV value only around $2000, it wouldn’t be insurable anyway. We confirmed that with my insurance agent. So now I don’t worry and wear it whenever I feel like it.
I own valuable jewelry myself and we insure it through our homeowners. If it were ever stolen I’d want to rebuy it.
All of my valuable jewellery is insured. Many homeowners policies have a minimal amount of coverage for jewellery and watches, ours is $5,000. This is for losses due to perils specified in your policy. It will no cover something if you lose it. If you want specific pieces covered for any type of loss, you will need to have a rider or what some insurers call J coverage. Often an appraisal is required. It is fairly inexpensive coverage.
We have a rider on W’s engagement ring. It’s not much more for peace of mind.
I insure a couple of valuable pieces that I wear everyday. I don’t insure the other few pieces that I keep in the vault and take out for a wedding once a year or so.
Jeweler’s Mutual is, generally, the best price. I have 3 things insured with them. Many other items are beautiful, and I would miss them terribly…but we could afford to replace them little by little. The “rule” here is that about $15 or more we insure. We have had several burglaries (inside job) so after that everything that is not on me it is in the bank’s vault.
No more live in help…nothing just out there. when we have gone on vacation we go to our jeweler and be babysits for it.
@Marilyn You might consider having your chipped diamond recut. The value of the stone could go up quite a bit.
We only insure the items that make our deductible worth paying.
I have several pieces listed separately on our floater policy. Part of the policy is for $10,000 that covers my pieces that are valued less than $2000. I have more than 5 in that category, but never have them all out of the safe deposit box at once. Anything could happen to my lesser valued pieces and they would be covered under that portion of the policy. I have everything photographed, so there is some proof of ownership.
My policy covers damage to a piece. If one of my listed pieces lost a stone or a major stone was chipped, then it would be covered.
I have a rider for the engraved Rolex that my dad gave me for law school graduation in 1977. Actually, now that I think about it, I don’t know why, because if it were stolen, no amount of money could heal the hole in my heart.
I have a policy for my grandmother’s wedding ring that I wear daily. It is beautiful and I love it, but I love the meaning of it more. Sometimes I look at it and think about it being on my grandmother’s hand. I do the same thing at my grandfather’s farm–I think about my feet stepping on the same dirt that he walked on. Oh dear, now I’m really missing them. 
@PokeyJoe , the jeweler told me that based on the location of the chip, recutting would take the stone under one carat and that would take down the value.
Define “valuable.” Do you mean something of X replacement value? And what is the X? Or do you mean an heirloom?
I am not trying to be difficult. I own some ok jewelry. Some of it is worth a whole lot more because of the current price of gold. Some is heirloom. I’m not sure if I should nsure it or not. I know I have jewelry worth a total of thousands. Should I insure it?
I believe insuring jewelry is expensive. Don’t you have to first pay for an appraisal and then pay for the extra insurance? How much dos your jewelry have to be worth to get the insurance?
@morrismom, those are my questions
Yes, you need an appraisal, then you can choose how much to insure for up to the appraised value. I am having trouble finding out what happens if you insure for less. Do they cut you a check and you can replace your item? Because I would never pay full retail for jewelry. Or do they replace it with a lower quality item based on full retail value of the chosen insurance amount?