NAJA and Instappraise Renew Partnership, Expanding Scholarship Program to Three Awards

When you hand a ring across a jeweler's counter for an insurance appraisal, or ask someone to put a dollar figure on your grandmother's sapphire brooch, you are placing considerable trust in a credential you likely cannot verify on the spot. The depth of a jewelry appraiser's training, and the rigor of their written reports, directly determines whether you walk away adequately covered or dangerously underinsured.

That pipeline of trained professionals just received a meaningful expansion. The National Association of Jewelry Appraisers and appraisal software provider Instappraise renewed and extended their educational partnership, adding a third scholarship to a program now serving three distinct stages of an appraiser's career. The combined value of the three awards totals $5,915.

The newly introduced scholarship, valued at $1,775, targets NAJA Certified Members pursuing the NAJA Certified Master Appraiser designation, the field's advanced credential. Recipients gain access to lessons 6 through 18 of the NAJA appraisal studies course, along with a one-year subscription to the Instappraise platform. The coursework picks up precisely where the two existing scholarships leave off, giving all three awards the logic of a continuous professional curriculum.

Those two existing scholarships, each valued at $2,070, serve professionals at earlier career stages. One is designed for gemologically trained individuals who are not yet NAJA members but wish to pursue the NAJA Certified Member designation; the other supports current NAJA members working toward higher-level appraisal credentials. Both include a one-year NAJA membership, access to lessons 1 through 5 of the appraisal studies course, and a one-year Instappraise subscription.

Gail Brett Levine, executive director of NAJA, described the software company's influence on the profession directly: "Instappraise has revolutionized jewelry appraisal by providing innovative software solutions that empower appraisers to standardize and streamline their processes."

The Instappraise platform is built to help professionals produce reports compliant with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice, known as USPAP, the benchmark that courts, insurers, and estate attorneys rely on. Pairing structured coursework with software aligned to those standards means scholarship recipients learn process and compliance together rather than in isolation, a combination that shapes the quality of every appraisal document that eventually lands in a client's hands.

The partnership's stated goals include improving global appraisal standards, encouraging ethical practices, expanding access to specialized education, and building a stronger pipeline of technically skilled, ethically grounded appraisers. Both organizations described those aims as a response to evolving industry requirements and shifting consumer expectations around higher-value purchases.

Applications close June 15, 2026. Winners will be announced at NAJA's 66th Annual ACEit© Mid-Year Education Conference in August 2026.

The consumer stakes are concrete. A well-trained, credentialed appraiser produces documentation that holds up when it matters most: with an insurance adjuster after a theft, an estate attorney dividing assets, or a reseller establishing fair market value. An appraiser without rigorous training can leave a buyer underinsured, a seller undercompensated, or a claim contested. Extending the scholarship pathway all the way to Certified Master Appraiser status raises the ceiling on what the profession produces.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A QUALIFIED JEWELRY APPRAISER

Selecting an appraiser requires knowing which credentials carry actual weight. NAJA's credentialing system offers two recognized tiers: the NAJA Certified Member designation, which reflects completion of formal appraisal coursework, and the NAJA Certified Master Appraiser designation, the advanced level the new scholarship supports. Other reputable designations include those granted by the American Society of Appraisers and the Appraisers Association of America. A gemological credential such as a GIA Graduate Gemologist does not automatically qualify someone as an appraiser; gemology and appraisal practice are related disciplines but distinct ones, and the difference shows up in the quality of a written report.

A credible written appraisal should include the appraiser's full name, contact information, and professional credentials. It should provide a complete physical description of the piece: metal type and purity, stone identification with weight and grading characteristics, and the setting style, whether prong, bezel, pavé, or channel. It must state the purpose of the appraisal clearly, since insurance replacement value, fair market value, and liquidation value can differ substantially, and a document prepared for the wrong purpose is nearly useless. The date matters too, because metal markets and stone availability shift, making older appraisals increasingly unreliable.

Appraisers should charge a flat fee or hourly rate. Any fee structured as a percentage of the appraised value is a significant red flag. That arrangement creates a direct incentive to inflate the number, which is both ethically problematic and inconsistent with USPAP guidelines.

Know when a formal appraisal is worth the investment. For insurance purposes, any piece worth more than roughly $1,000 warrants a written document, and most insurers require one to schedule jewelry separately on a policy. Buying a significant piece on the secondary market, navigating an estate, pursuing a charitable donation deduction, or responding to an IRS inquiry all require appraisals that meet specific compliance standards. An appraiser trained through a credentialing body like NAJA understands which valuation method applies to which circumstance, and that expertise shows in every line of the report.

Revisit appraisals every three to five years, or sooner when platinum or gold prices shift substantially. An insurance document written when gold traded at a different level can leave a meaningful gap between what a piece would cost to replace and what a claim would actually pay.