Oh Hil, you poor thing! The same thing happened to my Mom's ring (I was with her and the one who noticed it) and it was not insured. When DH and I got engaged I made sure mine was insured. And good thing, too, because somehow I chipped the edge of the diamond. So hear is my story, in case it helps you make any decisions. I'm so glad to hear yours was insured as well!
A jeweler who was cleaning my ring brought the chip to my attention. It wasn't that noticeable and I loved my diamond so I just wore it that way for several years. When it came time for us to move cross country, I knew I needed to report the claim since the jewelry insurance was a "rider" on our home owner's policy (they were connected). I wasn't sure what would happen next.
A man from the agency came out to the house to look at my stone. He said I had three choices. They could pay to have the stone filed down or recut to minimize the appearance of the chip (making it smaller--not an option for me), I could choose from two similar diamonds that he had brought with him and trade out my diamond for one of those (neither of these was acceptable to DH or me, even though they weighed the same, they looked much smaller than my stone, which DH had tramped all over NYC's diamond district to find). The third option was to turn over my diamond and accept a check for the full amount of the policy (this is what we did).
Since we were in the process of a major move and life/job change, I managed to talk DH into letting our jeweler order a Moissonite stone to replace my diamond, and we used the money to help with the purchase of our next home. After 12 years of marriage, having a real diamond wasn't that important to me anymore. Because of the size gradations of the Moissonites, I actually got a stone that was a little bit larger than my original diamond and I've never regretted it. It has held up perfectly, it's shiny, and a teeny bit champagne colored, so it doesn't look fake like some diamond simulants can. I have been wearing it for 9 years now, and I think they are even less expensive than they were when I bought mine. Because I used my original setting, I think it looks more genuine than if I had bought a mass produced wedding set that was sold on the tv shopping channel or something.
https://www.google.com/search?.....38;bih=677
http://www.whatismoissanite.co.....oissanite/
