Advice on declaring valuable items

Mint_choc_chip

greyteam1959 said:

Flog it and pay off off your mortgage.
What's the point of keeping it locked away & unused ??
Seems rather pointless to me.

Because they're part of my family history, even if these pieces were worthless I would still keep them. I'm not about to sell something for my own gains when I would be throwing away something that has greater historic and family value that anything I could ever buy. 

Sandtree

Mint_choc_chip said:

It is jewellery (2 or more pieces I think) and was last valued 30 years ago by a professional. It is quite a substantial amount, enough to pay off my mortgage atleast. 

You will need to get an up to date valuation as a near first step. Single item limits as their name suggests is on one item though exactly what is a single item can be harder to define... earrings in most cases come as a pair obviously but if they have a matching necklace is it one item or a two items that make up a set.

I am not a fan of coy answers when trying to help someone... you may find even if you buy separate jewelry insurance that some home insurers won't be willing to cover the house if they are kept at home because even though not covered by the contents policy they will deem it increases the risk of a theft. Again, how much of a challenge will depend on if its the £500 to pay off my brother's mortgage or the £750,000 to pay off my sister's mortgage.

Snowdrops_Bluebells

Direct Line Select will cover multiple high value items. I think any item over 20k requires a recent valuation. I can’t comment on service, because you only find out about that after a calamity. I can’t 100% recall, but I think each valuation cost around £125 per item (local jeweller who sends item away and it it returned with a report) Sight of the report  was required by the insurance company within x amount of days of cover starting. 

There will be options out there, just might not be the first place you think of! 

Sandtree

Snowdrops_Bluebells said:

I can’t 100% recall, but I think each valuation cost around £125 per item (local jeweller who sends item away and it it returned with a report) Sight of the report  was required by the insurance company within x amount of days of cover starting. 

You will be lucky if the valuation is a fixed cost... virtually everywhere I approached when trying to get a valuation done was a percentage of the value with a floor of something like £100 per item