Jewelry inventory for a family office
Travel pieces and vault pieces were on one vague schedule. This is an anonymized scenario, not a named client and not a return.
One list for two very different lives
Everyday pieces were worn and insured on a household rider. A vaulted suite had a specialist schedule. The family office had neither list in a form it could reconcile.
A request to move two pieces between households made the split visible. Serials were in a jeweler's email. The office file still described a complete set.
Splitting the inventory properly
Worn versus vaulted
Split the inventory into pieces that leave the house and pieces that do not, with locations that match.
Identifiers
Collected serials, prior appraisals, and photographs into one object list the office could keep.
One office file
Put the schedule, the vault log, and the worn list in the same packet so a later request does not start from three inboxes.
What the family office now holds
This table is a documentation checklist, not performance. No IRRs, no multiples, no fabricated results.
Why the split stayed accurate
Two lists, one packet
Worn pieces and vaulted pieces are described separately. The office no longer treats a split suite as a single line.
Serials live with the object
Identifiers left the jeweler's inbox and sit next to the appraisals in the office file.
Nothing left the vault with us
Jewelry stayed with the household and the vault. We coordinated the lists.
Why one inventory was the wrong shape
The office held jewellery for three generations in a single spreadsheet, sorted alphabetically by stone. It was accurate and it was unusable, because the question the office actually received was never about stones. It was about one specific piece, in one specific week, in one specific city.
Worn pieces and vaulted pieces are not the same asset. They move differently, they are insured differently, and they are valued on different assumptions. Held in one list, the list has to be read in full before anyone can answer anything. Split into two, most questions answer themselves.
Worn and vaulted, side by side
| Question | Worn | Vaulted |
|---|---|---|
| Where it lives | With a named individual, address on file | One vault or safe deposit, named on the schedule |
| How often it is seen | Monthly sight check by the holder | Annual inspection with photographs |
| Valuation basis | Replacement, refreshed every two years | Replacement, refreshed every three to five years |
| Coverage | Worldwide, including away from the premises | Vault location only, with a rider for movement |
| Before it travels | Written note to the office, then to the broker | Not moved without two authorising signatories |
| What identifies it | Photograph, weight, and any grading report | Photograph, weight, grading report, and vault receipt |
What the office does each quarter
- Confirm the two lists still match realityEvery holder confirms in writing what they are actually holding. Nothing carries over from last quarter by assumption, because the whole point of the split is that the worn list changes.
- Reconcile movements against authorisationsAny piece that changed list gets a line: who moved it, who approved it, and whether the broker was told before or after the fact.
- Check the valuation clockPieces past their refresh window are flagged together, and one brief goes to the appraiser covering all of them rather than a request per piece.
- Refresh identifiers where a piece was alteredResizing, resetting, and repair all change a piece. The photograph and the weight are retaken before the alteration is filed as complete.
- Hand the family office one pageA quarterly summary: counts per list, movements, valuations due, and anything the broker has still not acknowledged in writing.
Where this stops
Two lists do not reduce a premium on their own, and a grading report is not a guarantee of a stone's future value. Cover away from the vault is written by the carrier and priced to how the pieces are genuinely used, which sometimes means a shorter worn list is the cheaper answer rather than a broader policy. Flamboyant Fortune never took custody of a piece, held no key, and received nothing from the appraiser or the broker.
What an inventory does not settle
It is not a testimonial, a named client, or a claim about investment return. It is an example of jewelry lists that a family office could not reconcile.
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