Selling your jewellery

Let us assume you inherit an estate and wish to dispose the jewellery. Make an appointment with us and we’ll take time to examine your items.

We will verify the stamps, calculate the stone weight and appraise them. If the items bear a signature of a world class jeweller, we shall endeavour to authenticate the signature. We submit signatures on a daily basis to Cartier, Van Cleef and Arpels, Boucheron, Bulgari, Chaumet and others.

Lastly if your jewellery are antique pieces, we shall appraise them and take in due consideration the quality of craftsmanship, the condition and the availability on the market or lack of it.

If you wish to sell your jewellery and we are interested we will be happy to make an offer for them the same day, for a spot sale.

Inheritance and estate valuation

Upon the demise of a loved one, family members quite often find their jewellery without invoices or expert appraisal.

It is mandatory to get an expert appraisal for the probate and the future division of the estate between heirs.

The price the expert will quote you is the price an antique or second hand jewellery dealer would pay for the object or the price your piece of jewellery would fetch if it were sold at auction.

In addition, the tax authorities will base their assessment of the total value of the estate on the expert appraisal, and levy the tax accordingly.

You can make an appointment with our expert to appraise the jewellery; you will be responsible for paying his fee.

We will give a written appraisal for each piece of jewellery in writing, and specify the material used and stones quality. We will date the objects and assess the level of scarceness on the market. We will give a fair description of the condition the items are in at time of submittal and an indication of their country of origin. The expert appraisal document can be used for any kind of administrative request and in situations in which an estate must be divided between heirs or heiresses.

Insurance Replacement Value – valued at approximate cost to replace or recreate the piece of jewellery.

This type of appraisal is usually needed to properly insure jewellery against damage or loss.

Estate Evaluation – valued at cash value (normally lower than an insurance evaluation). This is based on what a willing buyer and a willing seller would agree to a non-forced sale.

WARNING :

The classical household content insurance contracts include a clause relating to jewellery and valuables an indemnification in general in value of usage. A guarantee attempts value of replacement for brand new jewellery must make the object of a specific contract of insurance are sometimes usage is the value of the same jewel, distasteful and identical qualities sold a t a trader specialized in the trade of French second hand jewellery. The insurance assessment of the value of the item matches the market price has offered by an established second hand jewellery dealer in France provided all components and quality standards are the same or close enough.

This is the standard calculation that insurance companies resort to in cases of loss.