Keeping Jewellery Safe
At Assetsure, we can provide insurance for your most precious items of jewellery but our compensation will never replace a cherished item or family heirloom. Sometimes, protecting your valuables is as simple as taking a few common sense steps to safeguard them. Here are a few of our tips based mainly on studying the typical types of insurance claims received for loss or damage to jewellery.
- Never leave your jewellery unattended in a motor vehicle, even for a
short time. If you do have to leave jewellery in your car, make sure
it is locked out of sight in the boot.
- When travelling on a plane, always carry your jewellery as hand
luggage. If you have a watch winder and wish to place it in hold
baggage, remember to remove your watch and carry it with you.
- If you remove your jewellery at home, always keep it in a familiar place that you will remember and preferably a safe.
- Make sure you have good quality locks and physical security at your
home and check on any requirements your insurers may have. Here is a
link to a security guide
- Never leave your jewellery in place it can be seen, especially if you are having strangers in your home.
- Take care when removing jewellery to do the washing up etc.
Jewellery placed on sinks and draining boards can easily be washed away.
- The settings of jewellery worn on a regular basis can easily become
loose and many stones are lost in this way. Have your local jeweller
check the settings on your rings and make any necessary adjustments. We
may even find that for certain valuable jewellery, it is a condition of
an insurance policy to have the setting checked on a biannual basis.
- For extra security at your home and if you have a number of items of
jewellery, you may like to consider installing a safe. Whilst most
people would prefer not to think about being burgled at home, it can
happen and small items of jewellery are amongst the items that thieves
look for first.
Having a safe Installed.
The
first thing to consider before having a safe installed or if is a
requirement of an insurance policy, is to make sure you buy one that is
“ fit for purpose” Safes come in all shapes sizes and ratings and
are designed to offer varying levels of protection. Safes fall in to
three main categories.
Security Safes- To keep valuables such as jewellery safe as well as cash.
Paper Safe- To protect paper documents from fire damage
Data Safe- To protect valuable data such as computer backups
Security safes are the most commonly installed by homeowners
requiring to protect valuables and many devices will also provide a
degree of fire protection as well. Having a security safe with an
element of fire protection is a good idea as you can then store valuable
documents such as passports and birth certificates as well as your
valuable items. Remember to check the internal size of the safe
particularly if you want to store documents flat and with binders etc.
The locking mechanism will usually be by means of a key or combination
operated either by a turning dial or as is more popular now a digital
number pad. Good quality safes will come with cash and jewellery rating
and this will inform you have secure the device is and give an
indication as to the quality of it’s build. These cash ratings are
supplied by the manufacturer but of course only apply if the safe is
installed as per the installation instructions.
A step up again is the Eurograde safe, these have had to undergo the
most rigorous of testing and offer the highest grade of security. When
choosing a device you should ask yourself the following questions.
1- What is the level of jewellery I wish to protect?
2- Am I likely to want to change in safe in the near future as I am acquiring more jewellery?
3- Is the device acceptable to my insurers?
Safe Cash Ratings
Safes
to protect jewellery come with cash ratings, so a safe with a rating of
£2000 means you can store £2000 of cash and 10 X that amount in
jewellery, so £20,000. If you have a single item of jewellery with a
high value, you may need a stronger safe than usual and if it’s an
insurance requirement, your insurers should inform you of a suitable
rating. Before purchasing any safe at the request of an insurer, ask
them to confirm in writing or by email of their requirements.
If you require more information on safes any good quality locksmith
or security expert should be able to assist you. Your local crime
prevention office will also be a very good source of information
If you require an insurance quote to
cover your jewellery we will be happy to provide you with one. We have a
policy that is specially designed to cover single items of jewellery
or jewellery collections.
