Beyond the Jewellery Box: How Howden Approaches Jewellery Insurance at Every Stage

Jewellery rarely stays in one place. It is worn, stored, transported, repaired, exhibited, valued and sometimes entrusted to someone else. For businesses, a single piece can move between a safe, shop window, workshop, courier, private client and international exhibition.

That movement creates risks that are not always accommodated comfortably by general household or commercial insurance. Howden’s approach is to look at how jewellery is actually owned, handled and used before arranging cover around it.

A Broker, Not an Insurer

Howden is an insurance broker rather than an insurance company. It does not underwrite the policy itself. Its role is to understand the client’s circumstances, approach appropriate insurers and negotiate suitable coverage and terms.

That distinction matters with jewellery. The value of a collection is only one part of the picture. Insurers may also need to consider where pieces are kept, how frequently they are worn, whether they travel internationally and when they were last professionally valued.

For a jewellery business, the assessment becomes even more detailed. Stock values may fluctuate, pieces may belong to customers or suppliers, and jewellery can move between multiple premises and third parties.

Howden Fine Art & Specie provides specialist insurance expertise for jewellery owners and businesses. Image courtesy of Howden

Personal Jewellery Insurance

For private clients, Howden arranges specialist protection for individual pieces, watches and larger collections.

Depending on the policy selected, cover can include accidental damage, loss, theft and damage to or loss of precious stones. Protection may extend beyond the home, allowing insured pieces to be worn and taken away from the principal residence.

Cover for matching pairs and sets can also be important. If one earring is lost, for example, replacing a single piece may not restore the original set. Appropriate policy wording can address the reduction in value or need for replacement created when only part of a pair or set is lost.

International travel requires particular attention. Territorial limits, security requirements and the maximum amount covered outside the home can differ between policies. These details should be agreed before valuable jewellery travels.

Specialist personal jewellery insurance can help protect treasured pieces against loss, theft and accidental damage

The Importance of Current Valuations

An insurance policy is only as useful as the information supporting it. Jewellery values can change as gemstone markets, precious-metal prices, rarity and replacement costs evolve.

Regular professional valuations help establish appropriate sums insured and provide documentation if a claim is made. Photographs, certificates, receipts, valuation reports and records of distinguishing features should be stored securely and separately from the jewellery itself.

Howden also offers floating limits for qualifying collections. This can provide greater flexibility when the value of individual pieces changes, although limits, conditions and valuation requirements will depend on the policy arranged.

Current professional valuations help ensure jewellery is accurately documented and insured for an appropriate replacement value

Protecting the Jewellery Business

For jewellery businesses, the risks extend far beyond burglary. Stock moves between shops, workshops, exhibitions, clients and third parties, while valuable pieces may be worn at events, sent on approval or entrusted to employees.

Howden arranges commercial cover on an All Risks of Physical Loss or Damage basis. Depending on the policy, protection can include stock displayed in windows, goods in transit, items held on memorandum, stock kept at employees’ homes, shipments, exhibitions and jewellery worn at events. Extensions may also be arranged for earthquake, terrorism, war, riots and diamonds undergoing cutting or polishing.

The company’s specialist jewellery brochure provides further detail. Commercial cover can include goods in trust, hold-up, snatch and sleight-of-hand theft, accidental damage, pieces being repaired or worked on, jewellery supplied on approval, employee theft and stock kept away from the insured premises.

Broader protection may also encompass buildings and contents, business interruption, denial of access, defective title, wrongful valuations, public and product liability, seasonal stock increases and the replacement of safes or locks following an insured loss.

These protections are not automatically included in every policy. Some are optional extensions and remain subject to individual assessment, policy wording, limits and exclusions.

Howden is a member of the National Association of Jewellers, reflecting its connection to the UK jewellery trade. Image courtesy of Howden

Following a Piece Beyond the Premises

The most revealing part of Howden’s commercial proposition is its recognition that jewellery rarely remains safely behind one counter.

A piece may begin in a safe, move to a workbench for alteration, be sent to a customer on approval and later appear at an exhibition. Stock might be entrusted to an employee, worn at an event or transported internationally.

Each stage introduces a different form of exposure. Specialist insurance is designed to examine that complete journey rather than treating jewellery as ordinary retail stock.

Secure storage is an important consideration when arranging insurance for high-value jewellery and business stock

Who Does Howden Work With?

Howden serves a broad range of businesses connected to jewellery, watches and gemstones, including:

• Jewellery retailers
• Watch manufacturers and retailers
• Diamond dealers
• Wholesalers and manufacturers
• Luxury-goods retailers
• Pawnbrokers
• Repair businesses
• Antique dealers and collectors
• Diamond and gemstone-mining operators
• Logistics and transportation providers

This range is significant because the risks faced by a retail jeweller are different from those of a watch manufacturer, repair workshop, diamond dealer or mining business. The policy needs to reflect the client’s actual activities.

What Makes Howden Different?

Howden presents its combination of specialist knowledge and international scale as its principal point of difference.

Its August 2024 jewellery brochure states that its Fine Art and Specie division has more than 30 specialists, works with more than 1,500 clients and settles over 400 claims of varying sizes annually. It also highlights its market insight, access to insurance capacity, independence and specialist in-house claims team.

For clients, this means the same broking group can address privately owned jewellery and the more complicated commercial risks faced by retailers, manufacturers, dealers and other jewellery professionals.

The important distinction is not that every conceivable risk will automatically be covered. It is that Howden can assess how jewellery is owned, stored, handled, transported and worn before approaching insurers to arrange suitable protection.

Questions Worth Asking

Whether insuring a personal collection or a jewellery business, several questions deserve clear answers:

• Is the jewellery covered outside the home or business premises?
• What territorial limits apply when travelling?
• Are current professional valuations required?
• Does the policy cover mysterious disappearance or only defined events?
• How are matching pairs and sets treated?
• Are loose or lost stones covered?
• Is jewellery in transit included?
• What happens when goods are entrusted to an employee, courier or customer?
• Are exhibitions and international events covered?
• Does the policy include customer-owned goods being repaired?
• Which security conditions must be followed?
• How will a claim be valued and settled?

The answers should appear in the final policy documentation. Specialist advice is valuable, but the wording of the policy ultimately determines what is and is not insured.

The Jewels Club Take

Jewellery insurance should follow the life of the piece, not simply the address at which it is normally stored.

For private collectors, that means considering when jewellery is worn, where it travels and whether its valuation remains accurate. For businesses, it means mapping every point at which stock changes location, custody or condition.

Howden’s strength lies in approaching these circumstances as jewellery-specific risks. Its private-client and commercial services sit under one specialist proposition, supported by broader expertise in fine art and specie insurance.

The real value of specialist broking is not found in a longer list of possible extensions. It is found in identifying the exposures that matter to the individual client—and making certain those exposures are addressed clearly before a loss occurs.

Discover More

Explore Howden’s personal jewellery insurance for privately owned jewellery, watches and collections.

Discover Howden’s jewellery insurance for businesses for retailers, manufacturers, dealers and other jewellery-sector professionals.

Read the Howden Specialist Jewellery Insurance brochure for further information about its commercial coverage, specialist team and claims service.