Appraisals are written to protect you in the event of theft, loss, or damage. Jewelry appraisals are meant to establish a retail value for your insurance company should you incur a loss.

Official jewelry appraisals for gold, diamonds or platinum can be a very important document that helps protect you in the event of a loss. They can also be quite misleading when determining the actual cash value of your item. This means your item will never sell for the actual appraised value.

Appraisals are written to account for the retail price you paid for the item. Retail jewelry often has some of the highest markups, which can be as much as 800% of the cost of the item. Retailers need to make a profit, and as such the retail price must take into account manufacturing/labor expenses, overhead, utilities, etc. Also, most insurance companies pay a small percentage of the appraised value.