I was reading the news the other day and saw the discovery of the second-largest diamond in the world in Botswana. Dang, I thought, that is a rather large diamond. I wonder how much that would cost to ship from Africa to Texas? Obviously, that’s not going to happen, but it got me thinking about jewelry, and specifically, how to ship jewelry. So as we do here at FreightPros (Check out our other blogs like how to ship frozen foods, or how to ship beer), we wrote a blog about it.

The first thing to know when it comes to shipping jewelry is that it can’t be “real” jewelry. Sorry Botswana diamond, no LTL for you. Jewelry containing precious metals or stones cannot be moved LTL.

Under NMFC Code 107837, it has a class of zero, and will not be accepted by carriers. If you’re looking for how to ship that sort of jewelry, I’d suggest small package freight and some excellent freight insurance.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about how to ship jewelry not containing precious metals or stones, primarily costume or novelty jewelry. Like most things freight, you’ll want to determine the freight class before shipping.

Under NMFC Code 107830, the freight class for novelty jewelry not made of solid or filled precious metals or stones, will be either 100 or 200 depending on the released value of the freight. If the released value does not exceed $1.00 per pound, the class will be 100.

If the released value is between $1.00 and $5.00 per pound, the class will be 200. And if the value is over $5.00 per pound, well, no luck there – the carrier will not accept the freight. Make sure you put the correct released value on the BOL.

Another thing to keep in mind: Just because you’re not shipping millions of dollars in precious jewels, that doesn’t mean your jewelry isn’t valuable or expensive. Any time you’re shipping something expensive or fragile you should look into getting freight insurance, but be aware that most deductibles are about $500, so make sure it’s a worthwhile decision.

Outside of general packaging guidelines such as using the right boxes, standard sized pallets, correct taping and securing the freight as your broker instructs, there’s not much else to know when it comes to the question of how to ship jewelry. You may not be shipping the Cullinan diamond, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take care when it comes to shipping your jewelry.