I don’t own much jewellery but there are a couple of pieces I treasure. One is a cameo brooch, which is beautiful but unusual, because it was made at the turn of the century.

It was my gran’s and when it was passed on to me after her death, I found a beautiful black-and-white photo of my dad wearing his navy uniform hidden in the back.

I love the thought that when her son went off, aged 19, to fight in World War II, my gran wore that cameo brooch with his picture.

He was one of the lucky ones who came back, despite serving on a ship that had to protect convoys of food and supplies while dodging U-Boats, submarines and everything else the elements threw at them.

My father died when I was 16, so pictures of, or things linked to him are precious to me.

That’s why I was shocked when I discovered that it’s pretty common for insurers to offer people vouchers instead of cash, if they have jewellery stolen.

The insurance company provides a list of shops where you can spend the tokens. If you refuse because, as in the case of my cameo brooch, it may not be something you can easily buy from a high street chain, they will offer you money but for a lot less.

Some of these vouchers, called Gem Cards, will give you more spending power but you’re restricted to one firm, for instance H Samuel jewellers.

I’ve heard stories of people being offered as little as half the amount in value if they insist on having cash.

Insurance companies call the shops they choose “preferred retailers”.

They prefer those big names, because they can do deals with them to pay for up to a third less for whatever’s needed, whether it’s a telly, an iPod or a watch.

That’s OK when the thing you’ve lost can be replaced by walking into a shop on the high street and picking out another one that’s either identical or pretty similar.

Where it doesn’t work and isn’t fair, is when you have something that’s antique and/or unique.

OK, so you’ll probably never be able to replace it exactly but the best place to look is probably an auction house, jewellery dealer or antique market stall.

If an insurer has offered you vouchers but you don’t feel you can properly replace the thing you’ve lost, it’s worth arguing and insisting they offer you a decent amount of cash.

If they refuse, take your claim to the Financial Ombudsman Service financial-ombudsman. org.uk/ and get them to take on the insurance company on your behalf.

I don’t know about you, but my feelings are that insurers are happy to fleece us when it comes to paying out monthly premiums to keep our valuables safe.

So, when things go wrong and we lose those precious objects, they ought to play fair and pay up, not quibble or try to fob us off with something that’s clearly second-best.

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