Appraisal Question

[Joe5858]

Hello,

I am considering entering the pawn business which would require regular appraisal of jewelry. Obviously a piece of jewelry that is not valued correctly (or fake) could cause my potential business to lose a good amount of money.

My question- are there any appraisers or insurers out there that carry or offer insurance for the act of appraising? I am looking for something in which he insurance policy would kick in if the appraisal work was done incorrectly.

Thanks.

 

[VRBeauty]

Ask the administrator to move your question to the Rocky Talky forum.

 

[Lady_Disdain]

First, you need to understand that there are several different types of appraisal: retail replacement (a similar, new piece), resale (used), etc, including the dreaded "vanity" appraisal (high value to make the buyer happy). Generally, though, a pawn shop will pay based on gold weight and karat (learn how to do an acid test properly for this). Unless the piece has a serious gemstone (large sapphire or ruby), gemstones are pretty much ignored. I have no idea how diamonds are valued in pawn shops.

 

[MollyMalone]

josh, are you asking if you can purchase an insurance policy that will pay you in the event that, e.g., you give a customer a $5000 loan for what you thought was a Tiffany ring, but when you go to sell it (because you never saw-were able to contact the person who left the ring as collateral), you learn that it is a fake worth $1000.... I.e. you would get an insurance payout of $4000?