Insuring your jewelry and why it is so important...

One of my dear friends e-mailed me a link to a news story about a man that dropped his engagement ring mid proposal, to his soon to be Fiance', off the Brooklyn Bridge. The link to the story is below and you can actually watch the video of his proposal. His sister was video tapping it for him.
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Oops-Fiancee-Drops-Engagement-Ring-Off-Brooklyn-Bridge.html

Now not to spoil the ending to this story but he did manage to get the ring back. The ring was mangled from it being run over by on coming traffic, but it was found and she said yes!! Now if the ring had tumbled into the Atlantic instead of the road he would have been out thousands of dollars and one sad Bride to be without her engagement ring to deal with. Thus needing to buy another engagement ring ASAP! If this ring was insured before hand then all he would do is call his insurance company and file the claim and in a matter of a few weeks the Bride would have a replica of the original on her hot little hand.

Insuring your jewelry is very easy. You can go about it in a few ways:
1. Call the insurance company that covers your home and add a special rider to your policy. You could also have a flat $5,000.00 coverage for stolen jewelry already on your home, but may not cover loss or damage. Also check with the company to see how much your premium will go up if the piece was lost or stolen and if this would effect the coverage on your home.
2. Seek out a reputable company that just insures jewelry. There are a hand full that do just this. If you rent or your insurance does not cover loss and damage or the annual premium to cover the ring is too high this is the route you should go.

Diamonds of Palo Alto is insured with a company called Jewelers Mutual. We recommend them to our clientele. They tend to be the easiest to work with and are very competitively priced. Also you can go to any jeweler you want to have your jewelry replaced. Some companies require you to use there jewelers and you have no say in the process.

What you will need to insure your jewelry:
1. Appraisal that includes a very detailed description of the item. The description should include: metal type, shape of stones, size of stones, number of stones, measurements of stones, clear description of color if any, number of stones and orientation of how they are set, era of design, statement of designer and if it is hand made, machined made or assembled, if any moving mechanisms are in good or poor condition, over all condition of piece if clasp are working, any cracks or defects in piece or stones, clear color images of at least three views of the piece to aid the jewelry in re-creating the piece, if any type of certification has been performed on any part of the piece from a laboratory this must be mentioned with corresponding report or lab report numbers and name of the labs documented.
2. Invoice of purchase
3. Original lab reports if any

Also a good rule of thumb when purchasing a piece of jewelry or a expensive watch is to have an appraisal done by the jeweler before you pick up the item and have the piece fully insured before leaving the store. When insuring jewelry only insure pieces that would be a hardship to replace financially. For example, if you purchased a pair of gold hoops for $350.00 and if you lost them most likely you could replace them on your own without the added cost of paying to have them appraised and then paying the yearly premium to insure them. Now, if you purchased a $5000.00 diamond pendant this most likely would be a hardship and worth the appraisal fees and the yearly premium to know if it was lost it would be replaced without financially being a hardship.

If you have any further questions regarding appraisals please feel free to contact me at
shara@diamondsofpaloalto.com

All the very best,
Shara

Palladium vs. Platinum

Palladium is a wonderful metal that makes a great affordable alternative to Platinum and is actually not new to the jewelry world. Palladium was used in jewelry fabrications more then sixty years ago. Palladium is in the same family of elements of the periodic table as Platinum. The group includes the fallowing elements: Ruthenium, Rhodium, Osmium, Iridium, Platinum and lastly Palladium. William Hyde Wollastone identified the metal in 1803. Wollastone named that element after Pallas, the Panion of Athene, and the Greek Goddess of Art. Because Palladium is in the Platinum group of metals it shares many of the same wear factors and attributes of Platinum. Palladium is: rare, hypoallergenic, a pure metal, naturally white and durable. Palladium is whiter in appearance than Platinum, it is 12.6 percent harder then Platinum and is more wearable and can take more of the day-to-day wear than Platinum. Palladium is lighter in weight compared to Platinum, [as well] because the metal density level is lower. This is why Palladium is significantly less expensive then platinum. Metals are priced by weight and rarity. Palladium is as rare as Platinum, but because the weights are significantly different it is amazingly less in cost compared to Platinum. Palladium in the 950 alloys will usually contain 95 percent Palladium, 5 percent Ruthenium or 5 percent Rhodium, depending on the manufacture, and some small amounts of silver and gallium.

Palladium does have its downside in the fact that it wears much like Platinum but not as harshly. It will not hold a mirror finish as long as gold jewelry but longer then Platinum. Palladium is expensive to make repairs on because of the high levels of heat, in the jeweler's torch that is required for the bench jewelry to bring it to its melting point. Platinum requires these similar levels, actually more extreme, of heat and usually stones must be taken from the jewelry so the stones won’t be damaged from the high heat levels including diamonds. Usually once Platinum needs repair it will need repair in the same area over time again because of the brittleness of the metal. Palladium does have similar challenges in the repair area, but not as severe as Platinum. Platinum also has no metal memory, which means once it is cast or altered into a position it does not want to revert back to its natural state unlike its competitor Gold. Palladium does have more metal memory then Platinum and can be pushed to limits in the design process that Platinum cannot handle. Palladium and Platinum do have a few characteristics in common though both are tough in the scientific sense meaning they resist corrosion and reactions with chemicals and other elements, but are not hard in any sense of the scientific meaning of the word. Platinum and Palladium scratch and do not resist scratching like gold. Platinum and Palladium are very soft in the sense they will not hold a polish or a design finish for very long, but as stated Palladium tends to hold up better then Platinum.

From our point of view Palladium is a great Platinum alternative, but from our experience we suggest 18Kt Palladium White Gold for all of our custom jewelry. We have found that using 18Kt Palladium White Gold over any other metal is using all the best characteristics of what gold and Palladium have to offer to create a great daily wear metal. Instead of alloying the gold with nickel we alloy it with Palladium. Nickel tends to cause skin reactions and will react with the skin's sweat and turn the metal a yellowish tone over a short period of time. We tried using 14Kt White Gold alloyed with Palladium in the past and found that the 14Kt is mixed with so many other things that it is too brittle and the purity levels of 18Kt Gold mixed with Palladium create perfect harmony for the alloys of gold and Palladium.

Repairing 18Kt Palladium White Gold combination is much more affordable and not hard on already set stones in the jewelry. Diamonds and most colored stones can stay in place while repair work is taking place and, best of all; the 18Kt Pd White Gold stays the color that is was in the original state which is a nice gunmetal gray color that makes a nice contrast to very white diamonds and holds a mirror finish longer then Platinum or Palladium. This combination creates great workability and repair ability for years to come. Also if Platinum is your only option you will consider for your jewelry we prefer to use 900 Platinum instead of the 950 Platinum it tends to be strong and hold up better over time. At Diamonds of Palo Alto we are committed to bringing you the most current and up to date information and will educate and help you make the best choice in metal type to create your one of a kind piece of jewelry.

By Shara Elaine Smith, G.G.