Appraisers/Insurance ?

Any suggestions for an independent appraiser in Eastern Nassau/Western Suffolk? FH and I just got our bands and I just got a new center stone for my e-ring.

Also, and this may be a really stupid question, can you insure your jewelry on any insurance policy? I mean, can I insure it through my auto insurance, or do I have to get separate insurance for our rings? (We don't have renters insurance)

THANKS, GIRLS!

Re: Appraisers/Insurance ?

You can do it on you home or renters insurance, but not on auto or any other type of insurance. If you don't have home or renters insurance, I suggest getting a separate jewlery insurance policy. I use Jewlers Mutual. My jewler recommended it to us.

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ZAC, was this expensive?

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and also, can I go to any jeweler for the appraisal, and do I have to bring the certificate of the center stone w/me?

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I think that if you bring the certificate with you, the appraisal is cheaper. I think that you can go to any jewler who is GIA certifies, but you might want to call first to see if they do appraisals for insurance. I think that our appraisal was arouund $75. FYI - we put my ring on my parent's home owner's policy.

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lizlen2003:
I have a policy for my e-ring with Jeweler's mutual.
Its based on you zip-code/geographic area and the cost of the ring. I live in brooklyn and for a .75 carat ring the cost was about $200 or so annually. I know if was cheaper if the address was in NJ or Phila, so perhaps the same would apply to LI. We had an appraisal with the e-ring, so just had the Jeweler fill out the paperwork for us and attach a copy of certificate.

I hope this helps.

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My insurance is 5% of the total cost annually.

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I got insurance through Chubb insurance. for a 1 carat platnum ring I think I pay 120 annually.

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I live in NJ. Like Alina said, it's based on where you live and cost. My ring is bigger, but still cost less for isurance then Alina ($196) I had to send them a copy of the appraisal. I am almost positive they don't ask for the certificate. I just used the appraisal from the jewler my FH bought the ring from. We didn't get a separate appraisal because he is a friend of FH from college so we trusted him.

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So, wait, the certificate I got for the center stone on my e-ring would be sufficient for insurance purposes? I'm assuming I'll still have to get my band appraised separately. It's about a carat total weight with 10 (I think) princess stones, but didn't have paperwork like the diamond we purchased. Would whatever insurance company we go with want us to get it appraised by someone they're affiliated with?

I'm so confused...

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be picky where you appraise it. Macy's on 34th st appraises the highest I found out

they appraise the center stone sepeate from the setting.
They 2 do separate appraisal prices.

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You have to get the band appraised, but I am not sure you're restricted to a specific appraiser as dictated by insurance company... You may want to give them a call and find out, b/c I had value of diamond and setting appraised in one certificate, we didn't do it separately. There is also either American association of appraisers or National association of appraisers (search of yahoo for them) and they have lists of participating jewelry appraisers, that are supposedly independent. So after we picked the ring, we went to one of those and he just examined it with microscope in front of us to make sure that what we thought the price/value was was a fair one. We didn't want him to do any fancy tests that they normally do, if the diamond is loose, so he didn't charge us anything but also only gave us a verbal asnwer. I believe the real appraisal costs like 100-150, and takes about 2 weeks.

Also, when our jeweler did a certificate, they rounded the price up slightly, b/c you're only insured for what you paid for it, and with inflation, that deteriorates over time, so they gave us a little bump there.

I hope this helps. And yes you do have to get the band appraised. I only know jewelry/appraiser guys in Philly, so unless you want to track that far, I won't make recommendations here.

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Thanks everyone - I guess I'll have to start researching some places!

One more thing to put on the 'to do' list!