What we hold · Fine Jewelry
Worn Occasionally, Insured Continuously
Jewelry worn a few times a year spends most of its life somewhere. Where that is affects both the risk and the premium.
Come and see it before you commit anything. Bring your insurance broker or your appraiser if that helps you decide.
Scheduled
Item-level records your underwriter will accept
In and out
Built for collections that get worn, not sealed away
Logged
Every movement, with who and when
Not a box
A safe deposit box is not a storage service
The schedule is where it goes wrong
Most jewelry claims fail or under-pay because the schedule was out of date, the appraisal was from a decade ago, or an item was never scheduled at all. Storage does not fix any of that on its own — the documentation does, and it is the part almost nobody keeps current.
Appraisals age in a way owners do not notice. A valuation from a decade ago reflects both a different market and different documentation standards, and an insurer settling a claim against it is settling against a figure that has stopped being accurate. The schedule has to be maintained rather than filed.
What proper documentation includes
- Photographs of each piece, front and any marks.
- A written description that identifies the item unambiguously.
- Any certificates or appraisals you hold, recorded against the item.
- Condition, including existing wear.
- A schedule in a form your underwriter accepts.
What an underwriter actually wants
Item-level identification with photographs, a description specific enough to distinguish the piece from a similar one, any certificates, and a current valuation. Not a category and a total.
Ask your broker what their carrier requires before assembling anything, because requirements differ and it is considerably easier to produce the right record once than to revise one afterwards.
How we handle it
- 01Inventory piece by piece, photographed and described.
- 02Attach your certificates and appraisals to the record.
- 03Track each item's location and every movement.
- 04Provide the schedule to your broker on your authority.
- 05Tell you plainly when an appraisal has gone stale.
Ask your broker whether your policy covers jewelry while it is in commercial storage and while it is in transit to and from. Both are commonly ambiguous, and the transit leg is exactly when a piece is most at risk.
Said plainly
Where we stop
We do not appraise and we do not update valuations. We will point out that an appraisal is old; refreshing it needs a qualified appraiser.
Common questions
- Do you insure the jewelry?
- No. Your policy does. Ask your broker specifically about commercial storage and transit.
- Why do claims under-pay?
- Usually a stale schedule or an item never scheduled. Documentation is what fixes that.
- Do you appraise?
- No. We will tell you an appraisal looks old; refreshing it needs an appraiser.
- Can we take pieces out for an event?
- Yes, by appointment, logged, with condition re-checked on return.
The questions
Versus a Safe Deposit Box
A safe deposit box is a good place to put things. It is not a custody service, and the difference shows up at claim and at probate.
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Versus a Home Safe
A good home safe is genuinely useful. The risk it does not address is that the people who open it are at home when it is opened.
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Insurance
Your collection is insured under your policy. Our job is to give your underwriter a schedule they will accept.
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Access
Access is by appointment, controlled by authority you set, and logged every time. It has to be usable or it will not be used.
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Succession
The least discussed question and one of the most important. A collection nobody knows about is a collection that may be lost.
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More what we hold
Watch Collections
Watches are made to be worn, which is what separates this from storing metal. The storage has to accommodate movement in and out without friction.
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Inherited Pieces
A collection arrives after a death, undocumented, and often has to be divided between people who each remember different things about it.
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Loose Stones & Colored Gems
A stone without its certificate is worth materially less than the same stone with it, which makes the paperwork part of the holding.
Read more →
Tell us what needs to move.
What, from where, and roughly when. You do not need an inventory to start the conversation, and if the job belongs with an armored carrier we will say so on the call.