engagement rings

cnf2013

I was curious to know if any of you ladies have gotten your engagement rings insured? I've been planning on insuring mine (I can roll it into my home owners for pretty inexpensively). The problem is I have to have it appraised, and I've had a really difficult time finding a place to get that done. There's only one jeweler in my town who will do it and their base price is $150. If the ring is complex or has multiple stones the price goes up. That just seems so excessive. I know you can use the purchase receipt for getting it insured, but I don't have one, my ring is an antique family heirloom. It's custom designed and from the 1940's. It's pretty intricate and has a total of 13 stones in various sizes and settings. So I know that jewelers going to end up charging me well over the base price of $150.

I want to insure it for a couple of reasons. The first being, God forbid anything happened to it, it would be covered. If something ever happened to it I know it would really upset my FI. It belonged to his late grandmother and it meant a lot to him to give it to me. The second is that I need it resized. It's too big and it slides around my finger and has even slipped off a few times, which always scares me. My mother has told me not to get any work done to it without insuring it first though. I trust her when she says that too. She's lost stones out of her rings before and has had work done on them and her insurance has always covered it. I just really want the piece of mind, knowing there's sentimental value attached it, considering it came from my FI's grandmother. 

Have any of you ladies had your rings appraised? Insured? Did it cost you much for either if you have an appraisal or insurance? Thoughts?

And, if anyone is curious... There's five center stones and four on either side. Feel free to show off yous too, whiel we're on the topic!

sparkles776

FI had the ring insured before he even gave it to me, which is exactly the way I wanted it! He had it appraised before he even gave it to me also, the jewelry store where he purchased it did it for free I believe. My ring is also rolled into the homeowners insurance, I think that is the way to go for sure.

ygymnast1

We have been planning to get my ring insured as well but my fiance is supposed to do it and well you know how fast most guys move on things lol. Anyways the jewelry store we bought the ring from appraised it for us. I guess I would suggest going out of town or calling another jewelry store to see how much an appraisal would cost because it might be worth your drive. You could ask your insurance agent for suggestions as well. That price just seems extremely ridiculous to me for an appraisal. Good luck!!!

blferguson1s

FI went ahead and got insurance on my ring with Kay when he bought it so it's covered for any resizing or fixing/replacing of diamonds we need. I just asked him, and it cost about $150-200 for insurance on a $1200 ring. It's pretty well already been worth it because we've had to take it in twice (since New Year's) to have it fixed. It's still not perfect, but I'm happy with it. Hopefully it won't get messed up anymore.

bar10521

We insured my ring after he gave it to me. We were able to use the appraisal/receipt from the store he bought it at. We rolled it into our renter's insurance  and I think it only cost us an extra $20 for a $2000 ring. I would absolutely have it insured.

emilyb213

Okay, first off, your ring is beautiful!! 

My ring came with an appraisal from the jeweler we purchased it from. $150+ for an appraisal sounds a little on the high side, although I would imagine an appraisal on a 70 year old ring would be a little more complex than something made within the last year or so. I think I'd definitely call around and see if it can be done for less. My ring is insured through our homeowner's policy, and it runs us around $45/year. 

And, because I love my ring, I will glady take you up on your invitation to show it off!!

SugarFoote

We didn't get the one I currently have insured because basically, to be blunt, if something were to happen to it, FI really wouldn't be out very much money. At the time he bought it, money was tight. So my ring isn't very expensive. He says he going to buy me a new better one, but I like my little cheap one just fine and probably wouldn't wear a new one if he bought it.

Klyn1983

After I read this thread, I went to ask FI if my ring was insured. He said (and i quote) "Yeah, I think so" Well, that was reassuring. LOL We have to contact our homeowners insurance and make sure that it's on there. 

Better to be safe than sorry! I would be heartbroken if something happened to my ring.

sssdee

As soon as I got back to work I called up the insurers to have the ring put on the home insurance policy. (I got proposed to on a Thursday of a long weekend)

Why? To have the assurance if something did go wrong, it would be covered. It is a fairly expensive ring so I definitely didn't want to take any risks with it. It also came with an appraisal from the jewleler.
(In my opinion, I think most/all rings should come with a free appraisal, regardless of cost! This way, people have the option of insuring it immediately than regretting it afterwards if something were to happen)

I think it costs me $90 (+/-) extra a year - which to me is well worth it for the peace of mind.

[Deleted User]

Just a warning to those rolling it into the home-owners insurance. My agent explained it like this:

You have two "dings" (or claims) before they can actually deny further coverage. Most people need NONE, because houses don't tend to burn down twice or get robbed twice or whatnot. So, she did not lump mine into the home-owners because of that. What if I lost a stone, then lost the whole ring in a matter of a few years? Then we would have no home insurance. So, my insurance policy on the ring is separate, and it's only about $70 a year.