Jewellery Insurance: What You Need and How to Get It Right

People insure their cars, their phones, and their laptops as a matter of routine. Their jewellery, which is often harder to replace and carries far more personal significance, frequently goes without adequate cover. Here is how to fix that.

The Problem with Standard Home Insurance

Home and contents policies cover jewellery, but with limits that leave a lot of people under protected without realising it. Most policies apply a single-item cap, often somewhere between $1,000 and $2,500, and a total jewellery sub-limit across everything combined. An engagement ring alone often exceeds the per-item cap. Many people only discover this gap when they make a claim. Checking your policy limits against the actual replacement values of your pieces is a five-minute exercise that is well worth doing.

Scheduling High-Value Pieces

The solution is to schedule significant pieces individually on your policy, backed by a current professional valuation, at an agreed insured value. Scheduled cover is typically far broader than blanket contents cover: accidental loss, damage, and often international travel cover are all included. The premium is based on a percentage of the agreed value and is usually modest relative to the peace of mind it provides.

Getting a Valuation

An insurance valuation is carried out by a qualified jeweller or valuer and results in a written report covering the piece's description, metal, gemstone specifications, and current replacement value. Replacement value is what it would cost to replace the piece at today's retail prices, not its resale value and not what you originally paid. Update valuations every three to five years. Precious metal prices and gemstone values both shift over time, and an outdated valuation means real underinsurance.

Records Worth Keeping

For every significant piece: original purchase receipt, any gemstone laboratory certificates, current insurance valuation, and clear photographs from multiple angles. Store copies somewhere separate from the jewellery itself, either in secure digital storage or a safety deposit box. These documents are what make a claim process smooth rather than protracted.

For Pieces That Cannot Be Replaced

Money can replace the material value of a piece. It cannot replace the piece itself if it carries deep personal significance. A heirloom, a custom commission, something connected to a person no longer here: for these, detailed documentation is the most important protection available. Photographs, written descriptions, any provenance, original design drawings where they exist. Scheduled cover combined with thorough records is as close to real protection as you can get for jewellery that matters in ways that go well beyond the financial.

Come in and talk to the team at Lorrae Jewellers. We genuinely love helping people find the right piece.