Appraisals

Learn About Appraisals

An appraisal is a written record of the identity, design, quality and value of an object. You probably already have an appraisal for jewelry or some other items that was requested by your insurance company. The appraisal will aid in the replacement of your items from a theft and any kind of loss in property. In addition, the identification and description of the items in such appraisals are often helpful when selling.

Appraised Values

An appraised value for insurance is an estimate of the retail price. The cost for making the exact duplicate of a ring is calculated including both wholesaler?s and retailer?s profits. An appraised value is not the amount you would receive if you sold the items. In fact, the insurance value is significantly higher than the actual cash value.

Appraisals often disregard the condition, age, and marketability of the items. This is especially true in the practice of jewelry appraisals.

Max Weiner offers jewelry insurance through Jewelers Mutual. Please visit Jewelers Mutual for assistance insuring your items.

How Jewelers Appraise

It is a jewelry industry policy to appraise nearly every item at its duplication cost. This assures the customer that the item can be replace if ever lost or stolen.

However this practice doesn?t usually take into account that jewelry styles change and items become worn from use. In other words, it tends to ignore the fact that jewelry can depreciate and often does. Jewelry is made of silver, gold or platinum and is usually is set with precious stones. These components will always have some value, but frequently the piece of jewelry which contains them has gone out of style, thus reducing the selling price.

People we know have been surprised to see the high value placed on their items by a jeweler. They know that the items had cost considerably less and thought the values exaggerated.

Estate Appraisals

An estate appraisal that was requested for probate should be closer to the actual cash value. The usefulness of an estate appraisal depends on the methods used in pricing. Some estate appraisals indicate realistic selling prices, some do not. Many appraisers, lacking market experience, use various formulas to compute the “fair market value.” We find that the prices arrived at by these arbitrary calculations are usually overvalued.

Appraisals for the 1980?s

During the 1980?s, jewelry, gold, silver, and diamonds were at record highs. If your insurance appraisal is dated around that time, the values may be significantly inflated by today?s standards. The inflated prices of gold and diamonds in the early 1980?s were similar the tech stock bubble prices of the late 1990?s

Antique and Period Jewelry

If the items fall into the classification of antique or period jewelry, then they could be worth more than the original purchased price. We love to see these articles of jewelry, please show them us to inspect.

Offers are More Practical

If you are thinking of selling something what you need is an offer, not an appraisal. An offer is the actual price which someone will pay you today for an item. Someone who tells you what you should get for an item but won?t buy it himself is not making an offer. A dealer who suggests a consignment of items at estimated selling prices is not making an offer. Your items may not sell for some time and they may ultimately sell for less than the estimate. In fact, they may not sell at all.

Perception of Price

We find that it is the perception of price that usually decides whether we are successful in buying an item from a client. The price we must pay depends on objectively determined factors, including the quality, size, rarity and marketability of the item. I an appraisal has imparted an unrealistic idea of value, a customer will never sell. No one will be able to meet their expectations. On the other hand, we buy nearly everything that is offered to us by people who have a correct understanding of the value of their jewelry