When Jewelry Appraisals Go Bad: Part 1

What are the signs of a bad jewelry appraisal? How do you know if you’re receiving a bad appraisal if you’ve never had a good one?

In our 3 part series, we’ll show you exactly what to avoid when you’re getting an appraisal done, including stories and real examples.

How A Bad Jewelry Appraisal Is An Appraisal Scam

When you pay an appraiser an extremely low price, you’ll need to make sure you’re not falling for a jewelry appraisal scam. To have an offer low-ball priced to a customer, only to give them the bare minimum amount of information about their jewelry by someone who isn’t qualified is clearly unfair to the buying public. Don’t get scammed!

We obtained a jewelry appraisal done in St. Louis by a jewelry store that offered appraisals for $45. Price sounds great, right?

Have you ever heard the saying ‘What you pay for is what you get?’ Well, this really brings this to manifestation.

Example Of A Bad Appraisal

What’s so bad about this appraisal?

• The appraisal is missing a photograph of the appraised item
• There are no measurements provided for the gem
• The appraiser failed to use color comparison stones and completely guessed the color grade
• No mention of the type of setting; They were actually in a screw on post and back setting
• The appraiser gave the item a value of I1 for the clarity. It was actually SI1.
• And… this appraiser was not a graduate gemologist

So, as you can see, this is clearly a scam and a quick way for an impostor of a jewelry appraiser to get your money. The insurance company that this appraisal was brought to could replace these earrings with almost anything.

It’s very important to protect your investment when having an appraisal done. While it’s important to evaluate the cost of an appraisal, price should not be the number 1 factor of the appraisal. Quality should be high on the list of what to look for when having an appraisal for jewelry performed.

Heritage Appraisers, Inc. offers professional grade appraisals with state-of-the-art equipment used by graduate gemologists with decades of experience. Find out more by setting up your jewelry appraisal appointment today.