Inherited ring - mindblowing insurance valuation - wtf do I do?

[BitShellshocked]

Have namechanged for this and it's not a stealth boast. My mind is a bit scrambled and I'd appreciate the thoughts of the MN hivemind.

I was recently given a few bits of jewellery that had belonged to my grandmother. All v. nice pieces but as far as we knew worth maybe a couple of thousand altogether, max. Anyway, our house insurance is due for renewal so I took them to a local jewellers to get an up-to-date valuation, more out of curiosity than anything else.

3 of the 4 pieces come to around 8k altogether. Lovely surprise! The 4th has had an insurance valuation of 50 fucking K. My mind is completely blown by this and I'm honestly not sure what to do for the best. I had no idea.

The jeweller says that the insurance premiums are likely to be significant, possibly too much for me to afford easily! That amount of money would make a big difference to us if I sold - could give ds a big lump sum towards a deposit or pay off a good chunk of our mortgage. We've talked a lot recently about financial planning for retirement etc and this would really help.

My gut says I don't want to sell it, but am I being completely ridiculous if otherwise it's just going to sit in a safe, locked away? WWYD?

As a PP suggested, keep it and buy a small safe for all your jewellery and important documents.

To give you an idea of insurance, I have £25k of jewellery at my house pending probate and it cost £12 to insure for the year not leaving the house

Oh don't be daft, it's a bit of metal.

If you are sentimental why don't you look at it from how your grandmother would see it. Would she want you to put the jewellery in a safe or would she want you to sell it and do something enjoyable or useful with the money.

If it's a diamond the price might go down and down as lab diamonds get cheaper and cheaper. It might be wise to sell it now.

Me too I'm surprised a £50k ring is too expensive insure. Given your mother regrets selling her inherited jewellery can I suggest insuring it for one year and waiting that year to make a decision. Also if your dh is already thinking of ways to spend it I'd scotch that it's your choice unless you're on the absolute bones of your arse this doesn't need to be family money. With my husband everything is joint bar inherited treasures and we both came into our marriage with properties and investments.

I would sell. Or at least ask myself how would my grandmother feel about me selling? Mine would be like "sell the damn ring and enjoy the £££"

think about what your grandma would want, would she want you to have a new loo & a camper van or would she want you to keep some jewellery you can’t remember her wearing? I’d keep the rest & sell it

Can we please have a photo

Don't fritter away the windfall on things like canpervans that depreciate in value. Add the proceeds to your pension.

I would sell 100% sell it without guilt. I'm sure your grandmother left the jewellery to you to make you happy. And I'm sure that life changing amount of cash would make you happier than a very expensive item, locked away, making you feel nervous! You could remember her every time you think about your lovely home, or your DS's first place 😊

Take a photo so you can always look at that!

Then sell it. Enjoy what that money will do. But plan carefully so you don't fritter it away.

sell it - but be sure to use one of the big auctioneers that have regular fine jewellery auctions to get max value Bonhams just had an amazing jewellery auction (jewellery porn auction watcher).

Maybe spend a couple of grand of it on a piece of great proper jewellery you will wear every day - gold chain, lovely ring... - have a look at auctioneers as there are always quite a wide price range - even on Bonhams or Sotheby's. Then you have provenance for when you pass it down :-)

I wouldn't be able to bring myself to sell, unless literally on the breadline.

I wouldn’t sell it - I may in the future, but not until I was ready!!! I love jewellery and unless I was desperate I would keep it and wear it!

Surely the people saying take a picture of it are having a laugh?

Get a sales valuation before you get too excited (rather than an insurance valuation).

Jewellery insurance is ridiculously expensive, my sister is a jeweller and can’t actually afford to insure her collection. The good news is that antique jewellery doesn’t really go down in value so you don’t have to make a quick decision, however you need to find a bloody good hiding place and don’t tell anyone about it! If it’s gold I’d hang onto it, the price of gold has increased almost 90% over the last 7 years. My sister also tells me not to believe the scaremongering about lab-grown diamonds if it’s a diamond, as they’ve been around for years and people still don’t really like the idea of them so diamonds will hold their value

Can we see a pic! LOVE antique jewellery

I have my Nana’s diamond ring that my mum inherited from her and I inherited from Mum.
It’s a diamond in the center with two rows of diamonds on either side.
When I was little, it always looked to me like an eye with eyelashes lol.
I don’t wear it often but the thought of selling it - I just couldn’t.
It’ll go to my daughter - I hope she’ll wear it more often.

What do you think your grandmother would want you to do with it?

This, it will be significantly lower

I’d sell it and either cut a chunk off mortgage or give child house deposit.

It’s likely your grandmother would have wanted you to have the money, rather than a piece of jewellery that costs to insure.

I don’t have any rings. We got burgled when I was a kid and my mum’s engagement ring got taken. So I never bothered getting one myself.

Put it in a Safe deposit box in a bank from £200 (jeweller size) to £500 (artwork). For example - Safe Deposit Boxes | Bank Accounts | Halifax

I'm assuming your dad doesn't know the value? I think I would talk to your dad. Does DB watch and ring add up to 58k?

@BitShellshocked remember you have inherited this jewellery! if you sell and put the money into the mortgage then you have lost your inheritance. you have to weight up if your marriage is totally secure. do you, yourself have anyone to hand the diamond ring (presume this is what it is) down to? my most expensive ring (24k) is going to my eldest grandaughter but she is allowed to have it reset or sell it if she needs the cash. at some point they will all be sold. you might want to keep it to wear. also be aware that every time you have it revalued, then you pay through the nose for the revaluation! also the valuation is not the actual resale price!! you might get half of that if you sell it but how many people do you know with a piece of jewellery of that value?? I wear mine all the time without taking it off!! you can always have it reset in a different setting if you dont like it