Estimating stolen jewellery costs when you don't have a clue of the value

Purplyworply

My elderly parents were burgled last week with every item of jewellery from their long history together stolen. The insurance claim form asks us "amount claimed" for each item but we have no idea of the current worth of any item really. Some items are heirlooms with no receipts; others have receipts but were bought 30,40,50 years ago and we have no idea of their current value. How on earth do we make these estimates and are there pitfalls to avoid (such as leaving this to the insurers to estimate, or over- or under-estimating? Thank you

Hoenir

Starting point is reading the relevant details in the policy booklet. What is actually covered. Doesn't sound if the jewellry collection has been professionally valued recently. 

Brie

When we were burgled a number of years back I went through and listed every item I could think of jewellery that had been stolen.  And then went through the list and put a current estimated value on it.  So I might have bought a pair of silver earrings 20 years back and paid whatever but to buy something similar now would cost me £20 so I said they were worth £20.  For old, heirloom items I looked for similar on ebay.  So grandma's opal and pink gold earrings from the 1920s were similar to something selling for £500.  Or whatever.  I think that the fact that I had a detailed list made my overall claim believable.  The insurance company didn't question any of it.  On the plus side there was no single item worth a huge amount, I think that if I had claimed an item was over £1k they would have capped that as I didn't have any official valuations and the items would have needed to be logged on the policy to be covered for full value. 

Since then I have occasionally taken photos of anything of real interest and tucked away receipts when they are purchased.  It won't matter that the receipt might eventually be required in 20 years time as at least I have proof that the item existed.  I've done similar with other "high value" items that might get stolen/lost like my old passport with my visa in it which would cost me a fortune to replace.  

Misslayed

I found photos showing some of the items we lost being worn - eg my Granny wearing her pearls (which I had inherited), me at my brother's wedding wearing the earrings they took. 

gwynlas

Most insurance companies will try amd give you the equivalent value from cheaper jewellery ranges such as those in the Argos catologue so it is importantto give as much information as possible without unnecessarily inflating claim. Given the amount of time the collection was built over it might be difficult to remember everything particularly with items not worn that often but kept for sentimental reasons.

Purplyworply

There are some really useful answers here, thank you so much