'Replacement value' misleading.

• Position: Living

Q. I have held a Personal Articles Policy at State Farm for over 28 years. I had not previously made a claim and have made my annual premium payments on time. My premium is about $1,200 per year.

I insured a Tiffany ring in 2006 that was appraised at $5,800. My wife either had this ring stolen or lost it.

We called State Farm and were relieved to find out it was covered.

So you can understand my dismay that the "replacement value'' insurance does not truly cover replacement but increases by a fixed amount each year along with the premium. In this case, the insured value had increased to $6,812.

Yet the replacement value is now $8,200. So I am out $1,400. It seems unfair and inappropriate to be paying premiums based on full replacement value and then not being able to receive reimbursement in the moment of truth. Can you help? -- Rustin Carpenter, Acton

A. Insurance is an incredibly baffling business, particularly when it involves claims. You'd think that "replacement value'' meant the cost of replacement, but apparently that's not the case.

While State Farm said it could not talk about an individual's case, a spokeswoman explained that it's on the customer to provide updated values of insured property.

"An appraisal can be obtained at any time on an item and they typically help to identify the current...