Interpretation from 1977 Appraisal

[snipe47]

I've got an appraisal from 1977 that would need to be translated into todays terminology. It goes as follows: "marquis cut diamond of extremely fine quality and color and weighing app. 60 points or 5/8 carat".

Can someone explain what this all means?

Thanks again for all your help and ideas.

 

[oldminer]

A diamond cut like a marquise shape (a boat). Cut quality just about at any level, possibly really well cut and maybe not. Color from about D to G and likely closer to G/I,,,but no one can say without seeing it.
Probably not more than .60ct.

All of this old description may be accurate, partially accurate or totally inaccurate. People were a little more naive and trusting 25 years ago.

 

[dimonbob]

Welcome to the forum snipe47

An appraisal is for insurance purposes. This "appraisal" is great for the insurance company and very bad for you.
It says nothing of value if you are trying to replace your lost or damaged diamond. Extremely fine quality to me might be a D Flawless but the insurance company might translate that to mean G VS2 or anything else.

I think he is trying to spell marquise, the diamond weighs about 0.60 carat and the rest is useless.

An appraisal should have the cut, measurements (LxWxD), color, clarity, weight and a very good description of what it is set in including karat of gold if any. It should also have the estimated replacement value. This is not all the an appraisal contains but it is a good start.

I strongly recommend that you find an appraiser that knows what he is doing and get a real appraisal.

Let us know what the real appraisal says.

 

[snipe47]

There's a problem obtaining an appraisal now. My wife lost it while we were working outside this weekend. Since the appraisal was done over 25 years ago, is this good for me or bad?

 

[Richard Sherwood]

Usually a vague appraisal is bad for the consumer. The insurance company has some leeway with what quality diamond they can replace it with.

Since the quality is not nailed "dead-on" (like for example E color, VVS2 clarity, with a 1A make), the insurance company can replace it with what their experts consider "very fine" color, clarity, and cut (for example I color, VS2 clarity, with a 3A make). The difference in value between these two stones can be considerable.

In all likelihood, you probably had a pretty nice stone. If the appraiser really knew what "very fine" was, it was probably G color or better, VS2 or better.

Just out of curiosity, how much did it appraise for 25 years ago, and what was the exact date of the appraisal? There was a tremendous "spike" in diamond prices from late 1979 into early 1980. Hopefully your appraisal missed it. If it did, try this. Take the original figure, and multiply it with an annual increase of 5% from the date of appraisal till now, and post both figures. Maybe we can get a "feel" for it that way.

(If it happened to be appraised in January of 1980, cut the price in half, then shred it in thirds, and then stomp on it a bit. That will put you in the current neighborhood of price compared to that insane month in history)

 

[snipe47]

My appraisal was done in December of 1977, and the entire ring w/ 8 round brilliant cut diamonds, weighing in total about 1/4 carat, was appraised at 2k. on a 7mm flat 14k yg band w/ guard.

 

[snipe47]

At 5% per year, that would make the entire ring worth about 6.5-7k. It was not insured separately, but should be covered by my homeowners policy.

 

[Richard Sherwood]

When you say "with guard", are you talking about a seperate gold band, or a seperate diamond guard?

If it was a diamond guard, do you have any idea of the weight and quality?

 

[Richard Sherwood]

-----------
It was not insured separately, but should be covered by my homeowners
policy.
-----------

If it was not insured separately, then you're probably covered up to a $1000 for jewelry loss. That's the norm with homeowner's policies.

If that's the case, your old appraisal will do the job fine.

 

[fire&ice]

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On 5/27/2003 7:15:23 AM Richard Sherwood wrote:

-----------
It was not insured separately, but should be covered by my homeowners
policy.
-----------

If it was not insured separately, then you're probably covered up to a $1000 for jewelry loss. That's the norm with homeowner's policies.

If that's the case, your old appraisal will do the job fine.



----------------

Rich, I'm not sure that every policy covers jewelry "loss". Some policies only pay the 1k if it is "stolen". Which is where semantics come into play.