Inherited a gemstone? What to do next

If you have inherited jewelry set with colored stones, the most useful thing to do first is very little: keep every piece together, don't clean or alter anything, and don't sell in a hurry. Then find out what the stones are, have them valued for the purpose you actually need, and decide calmly, with the family where that applies, whether to keep, insure or sell. A few weeks of patience rarely costs anything. A rushed decision often does.

In the first weeks: what not to do

• Don't clean the pieces in an ultrasonic or steam cleaner. Filled, oiled and some heat-treated stones can be damaged; GIA recommends warm, soapy water instead. Emeralds are a particular risk, because most are fracture-filled.
• Don't take stones out of their settings or send pieces for repair yet. Heat from a repair can harm some treatments, and a loose stone is easier to lose or mix up.
• Don't accept the first offer, least of all one made on the spot by the person valuing the piece.
• Don't split up sets — a pair of earrings, a suite — before they are documented. They can be worth more together.
• Check the insurance. A policy in the name of the person who died may no longer protect the pieces.

Make a record before anything else

Before any piece leaves the house, write down what there is:

• Photograph each piece from the front, back and side, including any stamps or maker's marks.
• Give every piece a number and a one-line description.
• Gather every paper: receipts, old appraisals, lab reports, letters, even boxes and pouches with a jeweler's name on them.
• Note what the will or the estate inventory says, and who holds which piece.

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Each kind of paper proves something different:

An old lab report can be the most useful paper in the box. Check its number with the issuing lab before relying on it — this is how — and remember that a report describes a stone, not necessarily the one in front of you.

Find out what the stones really are

Family stories are not evidence. "Grandmother's ruby" may be ruby, red spinel, garnet, glass or a lab-grown ruby, and age proves little: rubies have been grown in laboratories since the late 1800s. Only a lab can say what a stone is, whether it has been treated and, for some species, where it probably formed. A lab report does not give a value; that is an appraiser's job.

Lab fees are modest next to what they protect. GIA's published fee for identifying a colored stone under two carats is $75; for ruby, sapphire, emerald and a few others, the report with an origin opinion is $90, and mounted pieces are accepted (schedule effective October 1, 2026). For small stones in everyday jewelry, an appraiser's own identification may be enough. For anything that might be valuable — a large stone, a fine color, a signed piece — get the report.

Put a number on it, for the right purpose

The right valuation depends on what happens next.

• For the estate. The usual measure is fair market value at the date of death. In the US, if a federal estate tax return is filed and jewelry and similar valuables exceed $3,000 in total, an expert appraisal under oath goes with the return. The same date-of-death value generally becomes the heir's tax basis, which matters if you sell later, and gains on gems are taxed as collectibles, at up to 28%. Other countries have their own rules; ask a tax adviser where you live.
• For keeping and insuring. An insurance appraisal gives retail replacement value. GIA's appraisal guide notes that many appraisers suggest updating it every two to three years.
• For dividing among heirs. An independent fair-market appraisal gives everyone the same number to work from. Agree the method in writing before anyone chooses.

Keep, insure, store or sell

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If you sell, compare routes on what you would receive after every fee, not on the headline price. Selling a stone you own explains how a sale with protected payment works.

When the family doesn't agree

Heirlooms carry memory as well as money, and the two can pull in different directions. A neutral record of every piece and an independent valuation won't decide who keeps grandmother's ring. They do take the guessing, and some of the suspicion, out of the conversation, and leave the personal decisions where they belong.

What Everystone does about it

Everystone doesn't appraise, and it won't rush you. It gives the family one shared, checkable record:

• A free Registry record for each stone: description and report details, on a QR page you can share with siblings, an executor or an insurer. Once a report number is confirmed with the issuing lab, the record is labeled "paper cross-checked" — a paper check, because nobody has examined the stone.
• If you decide to sell, you list the stone from your cabinet and pay the $20/month account; the desk confirms the payment and reviews the lot before it goes live, buyers pass KYC, and the money is held until the buyer confirms. While we launch there is no seller commission under $10,000; from $10,000 it is 5% of a completed sale.
• For a stone worth $30,000 or more that the family wants to keep, custody holds it in a free-zone vault in Bangkok, with insurance tied to the passport valuation and an annual valuation update.