Should I Insure My Jewelry and Valuables?

While a standard homeowners insurance policy includes some coverage for jewelry and other valuables, you may want to buy extra coverage in the form of a scheduled personal property rider or a separate jewelry insurance policy if you own highly valuable jewelry. If you’re preparing to propose or just want to give a Valentine’s Day gift that embodies your commitment to your significant other, then you should consider taking the appropriate steps to make sure your jewelry is adequately insured.

Keep reading to learn more about insuring jewelry including how much coverage automatically comes with homeowners insurance and how to insure your jewelry for its full value.

Key Takeaways Homeowners insurance covers jewelry but your valuables will likely be subject to sublimits that are lower than your overall personal property coverage limit. You may be able to secure extra coverage by adding scheduled personal property coverage to your home insurance policy or buying a standalone jewelry insurance policy. Most home insurance policies only insure your jewelry against sudden external perils like fire and theft, although jewelry insurance may also cover losses you are responsible for such as misplacing or otherwise losing your jewelry. Additional jewelry coverage may cost around 1% to 2% of the value of your jewelry collection per year.

Does Home Insurance Cover Jewelry and Valuables?

Home insurance covers rings, watches, bracelets, necklaces, earrings and other types of jewelry. However, these items are often subject to coverage restrictions because of how costly they are to replace and how much more likely they are to be stolen than any other item in your home besides cash.^[1]

Does Renters Insurance Cover Jewelry and Valuables?

Yes, renters insurance generally covers your belongings including jewelry and other valuables in much the same way as home insurance. You should note that homeowners and renters insurance claims related to your belongings will always require a deductible, which is your mandatory contribution to every claim.^[2]

For example, if you have a $1,000 deductible, your insurance company will subtract $1,000 from your payout after you experience a covered loss. This means that there is no reason for you to file a claim for less than $1,000 worth of damaged or lost property.

What Types of Home Insurance Cover Jewelry?

Jewelry is covered by personal property insurance, also known as Coverage C, which is included in a standard home insurance policy and also provides coverage for your other belongings such as clothing, electronics and furniture.

The coverage limit for your personal property coverage is generally between 50% and 70% of the insured value of your home and attached structures. In addition, many policies cover your possessions outside of your home with an off-premises coverage limit set at 10% of your overall personal property coverage limit.^[3] For example, if you have $400,000 worth of dwelling insurance, your policy may automatically come with $200,000 to $280,000 worth of personal property insurance including $20,000 to $28,000 for off-premises claims.

Most home insurance policies insure your jewelry and other belongings against the 16 named perils listed in the table below. However, some policies provide open peril personal property coverage, which means they insure your jewelry against all perils that aren’t named as exclusions in the policy.

Fire or lightning	Theft
Windstorm or hail	Volcanic eruptions
Explosion	Falling objects
Riot or civil commotion	Weight of ice, sleet or snow
Damage by aircraft	Water/steam discharge from home systems and appliances
Damage by vehicle	Sudden/accidental tearing, cracking, burning or bulging of home systems
Smoke	Freezing of home systems
Vandalism or malicious mischief	Sudden/accidental power surges

How Does Home Insurance Cover Jewelry and Valuables?

Homeowners insurance policies often apply sublimits to jewelry and other valuables, meaning claims related to these items will only be covered up to a certain amount even if that amount is less than your overall personal property coverage limit. In some cases, this amount can even be less than the actual cash value (ACV) of your lost valuables.

For example, Lemonade will only pay out up to $1,500 after your deductible for jewelry theft claims.^[4] Since engagement rings cost about $5,500 on average as of 2023, this means that your homeowners or renters insurance settlement may not be nearly enough to replace your engagement ring after it is stolen.^[5]

Your policy may include per-item and/or blanket sublimits. Per-item sublimits apply individually to each piece of jewelry you lose due to a covered peril, while blanket sublimits apply collectively to all of your valuables if you lose multiple precious items due to a single covered peril.

Does Homeowners Insurance Cover Lost Jewelry?

Although your personal property insurance covers jewelry that has been stolen or destroyed by some other covered peril, it generally won’t pay to replace a piece of jewelry if you merely misplace it and are unable to find it. Other perils that are commonly excluded from coverage include the following:

• Flooding from external sources such as heavy rainfall and sump pump overflows
• Ground movements such as earthquakes, sinkholes, landslides and mudflows
• Pests and infestations
• Intentional losses
• Wear and tear
• War or nuclear hazard
• Government confiscation

Keep in mind that you should be able to insure your valuables against flood damage by purchasing a separate flood insurance policy. However, policies from the federal government’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) still enforce a $2,500 sublimit for jewelry and other valuables.^[6]

What Is Jewelry Insurance?

There are two main options for securing insurance for jewelry if you want more coverage than your basic homeowners insurance policy will provide: a scheduled personal property coverage endorsement to your home insurance policy or a standalone jewelry insurance policy.

Scheduled personal property coverage is a home insurance add-on that allows you to raise your sublimits for select items in exchange for paying a higher premium.

As a result, this endorsement can enable you to insure your valuables up to an agreed-upon amount that may be as high as their replacement cost value (RCV). In addition to jewelry, you may be able to schedule valuable items like these:^[7]

• Furs
• Antiques
• Art
• Collectible items such as stamps or coins
• Firearms
• Musical instruments
• High-value cameras

Meanwhile, some insurance carriers also offer jewelry insurance policies that are separate from your homeowners policy. For example, you may be able to buy personal jewelry insurance from Jewelers Mutual Group with an annual jewelry insurance cost of about 1% to 2% of the value of the items covered by your policy.^[8]

How Does Jewelry Insurance Work?

Before you can schedule a piece of jewelry, you will generally need to hire a professional appraiser to assess its value. Scheduled personal property insurance differs from standard personal property coverage in that it may not require a deductible and may cover accidental losses that you are responsible for like dropping or losing a valuable item.^[7]

Similarly, you may be able to select a $0 deductible for your standalone jewelry insurance policy and jewelry insurance companies may cover losses that wouldn’t be covered by homeowners insurance. For example, Jewelers Mutual covers flood and earthquake damage, disappearances due to unknown causes and even some types of wear and tear.^[8]

One benefit of purchasing valuables insurance that is independent of your home insurance policy is that you can file jewelry-related claims without driving up the cost of your homeowners insurance. In some cases, filing a claim won’t even cause your jewelry insurance premium to go up.^[9]

Tips To Keep Your Jewelry and Valuables Safe at Home

Consider taking steps like the ones listed below to make sure your jewelry, collectibles, firearms and other valuable items are properly protected inside of your home.

Get an Appraisal

As mentioned previously, getting an appraisal is often a requirement if you’re interested in securing extra coverage for your valuables. In addition, knowing exactly how much your valuables are worth can make it easier to decide how you can best protect them, especially when it comes to setting the right coverage limits for your insurance policies. Keep in mind that the value of precious items can change over time, so you may want to hire an appraiser periodically to make sure your coverage amounts stay up to date.

Create a Home Inventory

You may also want to create and regularly update a home inventory so you can keep a detailed record of what items you own and how much they are worth. This may make the settlement process go more smoothly if you need to file a claim since you will be able to easily show your homeowners insurance company exactly what items you lost due to a covered peril and what the approximate value of the lost items is.

Set Up a Security System

Theft is the most common jewelry-related loss according to Lemonade claims data, so the best way to protect your jewelry may be to keep your home secure by setting up cameras, alarms, smart home devices and other security features.^[4]

Be Proactive

Making wise decisions about how you store your valuables can help you prevent potential insurance claims before they happen. For example, storing valuables on shelves and keeping them away from your basement can mitigate the risk of water damage.

When you aren’t wearing your pieces of jewelry, you may want to store them in locked boxes that are hidden out of plain sight so that a home intruder may not be able to easily find them.

You may also want to split up your jewelry among multiple boxes and store them in different places so that, even if an intruder finds one stash of jewelry, they may not steal your entire collection.

Get Additional Coverage

Finally, you should look into alternative insurance coverage options if you assess your current policies and find that they leave you underinsured. You may have multiple options for getting additional coverage such as raising your overall personal property coverage limit, adding scheduled property coverage to your home insurance, buying a standalone policy for your jewelry or shopping around to see if you can find a homeowners insurance policy with more favorable sublimits for your valuables.

How To File a Jewelry Insurance Claim

Whenever your jewelry is lost, damaged or destroyed, you can take these steps to file an insurance claim:

1. If your jewelry has been stolen, call 911 so the responding officers can fill out a police report.
2. Call your insurance company to initiate the claims process and schedule an appointment with an insurance adjuster.
3. Take photos and videos of the damaged jewelry if applicable.
4. Make emergency repairs to your home as needed to protect your jewelry from further damage.
5. If you are still paying off your house and are filing a claim on your standard homeowners insurance, tell your mortgage lender that you are in the process of filing a claim.
6. Present evidence that backs up your claim during the adjuster’s visit including photos and videos, police reports, home inventories and appraisals.
7. Hold on to receipts and other documents that relate to your claim.
8. Fill out paperwork and take care of any issues that arise with your claim as soon as possible.
9. Use your insurance payout to replace your lost jewelry or consider contacting a lawyer or public adjuster if you believe your insurer is lowballing you.

How To Get Homeowners Coverage for Jewelry and Valuables

You should try to find quotes from three to five different insurance companies that will cover your jewelry and valuables so you can compare the quotes and figure out which insurer can offer you the best deal. To apply for a home insurance quote, you may need to share the appraised value of your jewelry collection along with where you live and other details about your home and household.

While this process can be tedious, it doesn’t have to be. By going through SmartFinancial, you can be connected with insurance agents in your area after taking just a few minutes to fill out a questionnaire about your homeowners insurance coverage needs and budget. If you’d like a free homeowners insurance quote today, click here to get started.