JEWELLERY APPRAISAL & VALUATION

Diamonds, Coloured Gemstones and Jewellery of all Types

Jewellery appraisal and valuation has now become very specialised and needs to meet numerous criteria to satisfy legal requirements and to meet the obligations set by the governing bodies in the profession, HMRC and your insurance company. All of these demands are in your best interests. As a Fellow of the Institute of Registered Valuers, all of Ms Pennington's appraisals, valuations and reports meet or exceed these requirements.

Whatever the purpose and function of your valuation, all your jewellery will be thoroughly cleaned and have all settings and fittings checked for security. Any items that do not carry a hallmark will be tested to establish what type of metal is present (gold, platinum, silver or palladium) and to what degree of fineness.

All coloured gemstones are identified and their variety established, the weight and quality of the gemstone is then assessed and any enhancement treatments identified and, where possible, quantified. Diamonds are treated in a very similar manner to establish value, this very often goes beyond the well-known 4Cs of diamond.

Once all the elements have been assessed, a value is researched or calculated relative to the purpose of the report. Since Ms Pennington is an Independent Jewellery Valuer, she does not buy, sell or broker jewellery, or accept commission payments, so you can be sure that the resulting value is unbiased.

Your items are then photographed from various perspectives and the final report is bound in a handsome folder.

Popular Valuation Purposes

Susan creates valuations for all purposes, including:

Insurance Replacement
Probate
Family Division
Fair Open Market
Divorce Settlement
Private Sale

Other types of reports can be found on the Other Services page.

Revaluations

If you already have a valuation, is it still accurate? Is it recent?

In the unfortunate event of the loss of any of your jewellery, are you confident that your current Insurance valuation would cover the cost of an equivalent replacement?

Unlike many consumer goods, jewellery values do not simply rise in line with factors such as inflation. The value is influenced by many factors, including world events, fluctuations in gold prices, availability, desirability of a particular gemstone and fluctuating foreign currency exchange rates. It can be seen that without a recent valuation, you could be paying excessive insurance premiums or will not receive full and trouble-free settlement in the event of a claim.

Susan strongly recommends that your jewellery should be re-valued at least every 3 years (like most insurance companies) to encourage this, Ms Pennington performs the re-valuation of items from one of her previous valuations, at a greatly reduced cost.

Watch and Jewellery Insurance

Susan does not arrange insurance policies for you, but is happy to point you in the right direction. It is best to deal with insurance companies who specialise in jewellery and watches. Jewellery Appraisers of the World have a section devoted to specialist high-value jewellery insurance companies that you might like to include in your research when deciding on an insurer to use.