Antique Ring Insurance

[lynelleruth]

I have finally joined PS after reading all of the posts for years! I love this forum!

My husband proposed to me with his Great-grandma's E-ring. It's around 100 years old and hand crafted. Beautiful! We had it fixed up and appraised. The jeweler had noted that there was a chip in the center diamond. Our State Farm rep said it would not be a problem so we sent the paperwork to State Farm to have it insured. Coverage for my 100 year old ring was denied.

We took it to a different jeweler that is a friend of the family. He took the chip out, added the wedding bands, and re-wrote the appraisal...in that appraisal they noted a chip in one of the sapphires, but that the sapphires were faux (which is normal for that time period and the previous jeweler didn't catch). Our jeweler said it shouldn't be a problem. Again, coverage was denied because of the sapphire chip. We went back to our jeweler to discuss our options and he told us that there isn't a good way to take out the sapphires to buff the chip out or replace it without compromising the integrity of the ring.

Here is what it looked like before we added the wedding bands--



We had to solder the bands to the e-ring because the e-ring's band was so thin (it cracked right before we added the bands).

Here is what it looks like with the band--



So finally, my question is how do can we get this insured with a pre-existing condition? There's got to be a way to have it insured for it's value without having to do a major re-haul on it. If anyone has advice, it would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Dreamer_D]

Jewelers mutual might insure it.

Otherwise, you can just go without insurance. The sentimental value will be lost anyways if it is lost, so then it is only the financial cost of replacement. Lots of people just accept that risk.

 

[lynelleruth]

The band is not original, it is custom made. My ring has just under 2 carats. It's valued over more than we would be able to afford to replace it.
Even if the band or ring was lost, that doesn't mean I wouldn't want to replace it! "oh we'll, i'll live without a wedding ring". I don't think so!!! Lol!

After I posted this, I lost a diamond in my band. Ugh, so frustrated. Anyone have advice (other than don't bother insuring it)?

 

[Dreamer_D]

I am trying to offer you constructive advice here, no need to be smart alecky about my response . I suggested you call Jewelers Mutual.

Insurance premiums have a minimim amount, and in some cases it does not make sense to insure a piece of jewlery because the cost of the premiums over time is higher than the cost of the jewelery. I also recommend if you do insure that you get a $500 or even $1000 deductible, which means for damage less than $500 you would not make a claim. This lowers the premium substantially.

Beware also of insuring for an inflated appraisal amount. most appraisals are utterly and completely out to lunch about valuation. Try to insure it for a reasonable amount you think it would cost to replace the ring. You know what you paid for the bands, do some online comparison shopping on ebay or estate sales vendors for rings like your e-ring, to have a reasonable idea of the cost to replace. If your appraisal is substantially more, then meet the appraiser again and request a different valuation.

 

[yennyfire]

I would second what Dreamer said about being wary of using an appraisal for insurance purposes. We learned that one the hard way when my original ering was stolen. At the time, I was naive enough not to know that the appraisal that came with my ring was nearly double what it was worth and that our insurance company only gave us "replacement value". So, we'd been paying premiums for 9 years on a ring at double what it was worth and then only got half of that credit when the ring needed to be replaced.

I now use my purchase price as my insurance value and hope that I never need to make a claim again!!