Establishing Monetary Value

Establishing accurate and current replacement values for jewelry can be a difficult process because of two primary obstacles:

1. Lack of Information. Often, the information you have will be incomplete and without a detailed appraisal. Non-scheduled items often do not even have receipts to verify descriptions and value. Furthermore, nonscheduled jewelry is often a gift or purchased so long ago that exact values are impossible for the insured to determine. While scheduled items generally have appraisals, the data is often based on incomplete and biased opinions by unqualified jewelers.

Encourage the policy holder to provide any information available even if it is outdated. It is the description that is needed to obtain accurate replacement values.

2. Misleading Retail Values. Retail values within the jewelry industry are often left to the discretion of the jeweler purchasing the product. The mark-up a jeweler puts on the product he purchases from a wholesaler can range from as low as 50 percent to as high as 350 percent. Therefore, the value the jeweler then puts on the appraisal can be anywhere between these ranges or even higher if the appraisal is being used as a "sales tool' to help make a sale.

Therefore, assuming an average 25 - 35 percent savings may be inaccurate without further investigation and may not result in the best possible replacement price.