Insuring Inherited Jewellry

Naomim

Hi All,

I'm in a bit of a fix. I have quite a large amount of inherited jewelly, a small amount of it is Wedding bands from my GG Grandparents down to my parents, plus my mothers jewellry, gold rings, charm bracelet, sovereign bits and necklaces. I need to get insurance but I think a fair amount of this is over £1000 each but when I asked at a couple of jewellers regarding insurance valuations they all quoted around £50 for the first item then £30 for each additional item. I can't afford to get one piece valued let alone the rest of it.

If I don't have valuation certificates I can't get it on an insurance quote on it's own.

I'm really stuck and currently have no home insurance.

Any ideas of how I can get this resolved?

Thanks

N

InsideInsurance

Get home insurance is almost certainly the cheapest, without any proof of what they are or their value you are very much going to be at the mercy of the insurer should a claim arise.

Whilst basic policies want anything over 1k named individually some better ones can go up to 15k for a single item before you need to specify them so unless you have had some well off relatives you could get away with blanket cover policies but still have a problem if there is a claim.

Some jewellers charge per item and some charge a percentage of the value. If you have a lot of items but dont think the values are too high then find one that does the percentage model. I'd also find one that does their own valuing as most, like the high street shops, just post them away to one of the big valuing companies.

McKneff

Small individual jewlellers usually charge a percentage.

Naomim

Thanks I've had a look on the National Association of Goldsmiths website and whilst there are valuers on there they all seem to be listed at one of the high street chains.

I've asked my brother to cover half of any costs as it's "our" joint inheritance.

I'll see if I can find somewhere that charges percentage wise. Do you know what sort of perentage charge we should be looking at?

Thanks

N

InsideInsurance

Naomim wrote: »

Thanks I've had a look on the National Association of Goldsmiths website and whilst there are valuers on there they all seem to be listed at one of the high street chains.

If you look at the named person though they are virtually all the same one despite covering many different cities.

I cannot remember what the percentage is because I was in the opposite boat of having a single piece of fairly high value but simple jewellery to be valued and didnt think it was fair that my price was dependent on how much they valued it at rather than a per peice/ amount of time it took. From memory it was something like 1.5% but I wouldnt want to be quoted.

dacouch

If you get the chance to value the jewellery I strongly recommend it, this is because the value of jewellery and especially gold / platinum jewellery has gone through the roof in the last few years.

Almost certainly the values you think they are worth will be massively below their value.

Mattygroves2

I don't know the area at all but having done a quick google based on the fact you say you're in Epsom the jewellers I'd try are ones like W Hyam in Epsom, Woods in Coulsdon or Bruce Smith in Purley rather than the chains.

I've just had a lot of jewellery valued for probate and it cost £80 (about 3% of probate value so less for full insured value) for the valuation at an independent which looks like those I've mentioned but in Manchester.

luci

Check to see if any local auction houses do valuations as I was quoted much less than if I went to a jewellers.

thor

I do rough estimates for my mum by measuring the weight of gold or silver and then calculating using whatever the price per ounce is at the time. Of course this does not take into account the value of any gems or workmanship charges but at least it will give an approx minimum value.