Having insufficient or inadequate jewellery insurance, is something most people only learn about when they need to make a claim. Apart from the many different policies out there, there are few things that you should try to have for each jewellery item, to make sure you replace the item that was lost.
1. A full description of your item for jewellery insurance
A full description for comprehensive jewellery insurance is necessary to ensure that a lost or damaged ring can be replaced with an exact replica of the original.
2. Detailed photo
A detailed photo of the item is essential, and should match the full written description. At least one photo is essential. If it is a detailed piece of jewellery, it might be necessary to include two or more photos taken from different angles.
3. The purpose of the Jewellery Insurance Certificate
This is crucially important, as it linked to the amount that your piece should be insured for. The amount shown on a Jewellery Insurance Valuation is often inflated, and doesn’t guarantee that you will get the full amount you need to replace the item. The best jewellery insurance valuation, is a Replacement Valuation. It includes a clear description of the piece and specifies what the jeweller needs to receive in order to create an identical replica of the original piece. Under normal circumstances, the value on the jewellery insurance replacement certificate should be within $500 of the price you originally paid for the item
4. Exchange rate and gold price
As the value of jewellery insurance is heavily tied to both the exchange rate and gold price, it is extremely important to have this on the certificate. If your jewellery insurance was calculated and insured at an exchange rate of 1.04 cents (USD to AUD) and the dollar fell to 0.80cents, the value of your diamond ring would go up considerably. Likewise, if you had a gents ring with a significant amount of gold in it, and the gold price went up from $1650 US an ounce to $2500 US an ounce, you would again be under-insured.
5. The date and renewal
As mentioned above, the value of your piece is tied to market circumstances. As these circumstances can change in a matter of months, it is important to get your jewellery re-valued every 12 months to confirm that you are insured for the correct value. If your insurance company can’t do this, I recommend using Q Report Insurance as they will do this for you every year at no charge.
At Xennox Diamonds, we can help make the organising of your jewellery insurance completely painless.
