How to write a jewellery valuation

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A valuation is a considered professional opinion of value, given for a stated purpose, supported by enough description and evidence that another qualified person could follow the reasoning. Everything below serves that single idea. The document is only as good as the thinking behind it, and the thinking begins long before any figure is written down.

1. Start with the purpose

Before anything is measured, establish why the valuation is being produced. The purpose governs every decision that follows, and a valuation written for the wrong purpose can be worse than none at all. The common purposes are replacement for insurance, probate, sale or division of an estate, and family division on separation. Each answers a different question, so each arrives at a different figure for the very same piece.

Record the purpose in the client's own terms at the outset, and make sure the client understands that a figure produced for one purpose should not be relied on for another. A valuation is an opinion held for a reason, and the reason belongs on the document.

2. Choose the basis of value

The purpose points you to the basis of value, the defined economic footing on which the figure sits. Getting this right is the single most important professional judgement in the whole exercise.

Retail replacement value

Used for insurance, this is what it would cost the client to replace the item with one of equivalent quality and specification at retail today, including the work of making or sourcing it. It is usually the highest of the common figures because it reflects the full cost of putting the client back where they were.

Fair market or second-hand value

Used for probate, sale and estate purposes, this reflects the price the item would realistically achieve between a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither under pressure, in the appropriate market. For most pieces this sits well below retail replacement, and saying so plainly is part of the service.

Other bases

Family division, marketable-cash and forced-sale figures each have their place. Whichever you choose, name it on the document and hold to its definition consistently across every line.

3. The appointment and take-in

Good valuations start at the first appointment, with the item in front of you and the client able to answer questions. Note the client's instructions, the purpose, and anything they can tell you about provenance, age, previous valuations or receipts. Photograph each piece on arrival and record a clear, unambiguous take-in so that what left the counter is beyond doubt when the work is returned.

Handle everything methodically. Weigh each item, note its condition frankly, and keep the client's pieces and your notes tied together so nothing is confused when several items are booked in at once.

4. Identify each piece

Identification is the foundation the figure rests on. Establish the metal and its fineness, read and interpret any hallmark, and confirm rather than assume. A full modern UK hallmark carries a sponsor's mark, a millesimal fineness mark and an assay-office mark, and often a date letter, though the date letter has been optional since 1999, so its absence tells you nothing on its own.

Test where a mark is absent, worn or inconsistent, and never let a stamped figure override what the metal actually is. Note the method of manufacture, the setting style and any signs of alteration or repair, because each of these bears on both authenticity and value.

5. Grade the gemstones

Grade to a recognised convention and apply it consistently. For diamonds that means the familiar framework of carat weight, colour, clarity and cut, assessed to GIA convention. Coloured stones call for a careful account of hue, tone and saturation, of any treatment, and of the confidence with which an origin can or cannot be stated.

Mounted stones cannot be weighed directly, so their weight is estimated from measured dimensions using established formulae, and the document should make clear that the weight is estimated rather than certified. Where a piece carries an independent laboratory report, cite it; where it does not, say what you observed and how sure you are of it. Honest uncertainty, clearly expressed, is more professional than false precision.

6. Describe it accurately

The description is what makes a valuation identifiable and defensible. Someone should be able to read it and recognise the exact piece, or replace it faithfully, without ever seeing it. Record the article, the metal and fineness, the stones with their grades and estimated weights, the dimensions and total weight, the maker or hallmark where known, and the condition.

Write plainly and specifically. The authority in a valuation comes from getting the particulars right, not from decorative language, and a description that could apply to a dozen similar pieces has not done its job.

7. Research and price

Pricing brings the evidence together. Work from current, researched figures rather than memory: live metal and bullion prices for the intrinsic content, comparable retail evidence for like pieces, and, for items you would make or source, the real cost of doing so. Where you draw on more than one source, compare them on the same footing so the comparison actually means something.

Keep the reasoning behind each figure, even briefly. A valuation you can explain a year later is worth far more than one you cannot, and the difference usually comes down to whether the research was recorded at the time.

8. Assemble the document

A finished valuation is more than a schedule of items. Depending on its purpose and grade it will typically include a cover, a statement of purpose and basis of value, the schedule itself, photographs, any notes and assumptions, the terms under which it was produced, and the valuer's declaration and signature. For institute-grade work, notes to the schedule and the valuer's credentials belong on the document as well.

Present it cleanly and consistently. A valuation is often read by an insurer, an executor or a court, and a clear, well-produced document earns trust before a single figure is examined.

9. Standards and declaration

Where a valuation is intended to meet a professional standard, it should be produced to the conventions expected of a registered valuer and should say so. The Institute of Registered Valuers (IRV) sets out how institute-grade valuations are prepared and presented, and a document meeting that standard makes its basis, assumptions and limitations explicit rather than leaving them to be inferred.

Be equally clear when a valuation is not institute-grade. A straightforward retail valuation can be perfectly good and honest, provided the document states plainly what it is and does not imply a standard it was not written to.

10. Review before you sign

Read the whole document back before it is issued. Check that every figure matches its basis of value, that descriptions and grades are internally consistent, that estimated weights are flagged as estimates, and that nothing has been carried over in error from a similar piece. Your signature is your professional opinion; treat the review as the last and most important step, not a formality.