Institute of Registered Valuers to expand website

4000BC: The year opals date back to. They are most likely to originate from Ethiopia
90%: Australia has dominated opal production since the 1800s with more than 90% of the global output coming from down under
19th: The century when the opal was considered bad luck in Europe. However, Queen Victoria was quite a fan of opal and wore her personal collection throughout her reign
15,000: Black opals, the most rare and prized, can cost more than Aus$15,000 (about £8,750) a carat

The Institute of Registered Valuers (IRV) is planning to expand its website, jewelleryvaluers.org, which it launched at The Jewellery Show at Spring Fair International. At present, the site is very public orientated and IRV plans to create more functions for the trade, such as members’ pages and pages aimed specifically at retailers.

The members’ pages will contain documents such as guidelines and other downloads, while the pages aimed at retailers will encourage shops to use the services of IRV members.

The IRV site aims to make it easier for consumers and the trade to find reliable valuers and valuations. All IRV members featured on the site’s searchable database have had to pass the National Association of Goldsmith’s (NAG) Jewellery Education & Training (JET) course, ensuring a high standard of professionalism.

Jewelleryvaluers.org is one of the first undertakings of IRV, which was previously known as the Registered Valuers Scheme (RVS). IRV was set up by the NAG in September to replace RVS, which it felt needed modernising.

Previously, valuers that were part of RVS had to be recommended by a NAG member but this practice is no longer enforced in the IRV. Instead, members must pass the NAG’s JET course, which opens up membership to a wider variety of insurers.

NAG Valuations Committee chairman Jonathan Lambert said: “The launch of the IRV is without doubt the most progressive step made to date to unify the whole industry towards one goal; valuing excellence and professionalism.”