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J.EREMIE MEGGS: Well, it's all over for another four years as the Olympic torch heads to Los Angeles. So you may have won that medal, but I wonder if it's worth anything. My next guest says this year's gold medals are likely to have the highest value of any gold medal in modern games history due to record high prices for the precious metal, surpassing the R13,000 record for the London 2012 medals.

Tarina Vlok is the Managing Director of Elite Risk Acceptances, a high net worth insurer and a subsidiary of Old Mutual Insure. First of all, Tarina, is the value in gold or in fame?

TARINA VLOK: Basically, the value is definitely in the gold, the weight of the metal, and of course those little pieces of the Eiffel Tower that are in there. So basically, this thing only has the value that can be determined based on the metal content. But of course, it has a lot more value than the supposed $950, especially for the winners.

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JEREMY MAGGS: Absolutely right, because that's what they've worked for so many years and that's what they'll have for the rest of their lives. Tarina, I'm interested in one aspect that you just brought up, the unique factors of this year's medals, particularly the inclusion of parts of the Eiffel Tower. It might just enhance the collector value of this year's medal for me in that regard.

TARINA VLOK: Well, these unique additions to the medals carry with them a culturally and historically significant inclusion, which means that, as you would expect, the collectible value will obviously increase exponentially. Again, a collectible is probably only as valuable as the buyer is willing to pay for it. But yes, they definitely have more cultural significance because of this inclusion.

Now this makes these medals not only unique, but also irreplaceable. As insurers, we can only compensate clients for financial losses. Unfortunately, we cannot pay for this cultural significance.

It's the hard work that goes into it, it's the sentimental value. Unfortunately, insurers can't compensate their clients for that.

JEREMY MAGGS: And of course, they shouldn't either. Tarina, let me ask you this before we talk about the valuation of the Olympic gold medal: I also assume that a rise in the price of gold in the future will obviously affect the current and future value of Olympic gold medals, and vice versa if the price of gold falls.

TARINA VLOK: Absolutely. They said that the previous medals from the Tokyo Olympics were the most expensive to date, but with the current price of gold, because the price of gold is rising [so does the medals]The same applies to jewelry: the higher the price of gold, the more valuable the item containing gold becomes.

JEREMY MAGGS: So let's say an Olympic champion calls you and says, “Well, we think we should insure this.” How would you evaluate that? And maybe explain to me why it's important for a medalist to not only get an initial evaluation, but to do this practice on a regular basis.

TARINA VLOK: Ja, so first of all, sports memorabilia is a big thing. There are serious collectors of sports memorabilia, as I'm sure you're very well aware.

JEREMY MAGGS: Really.

TARINA VLOK: So I would, if I were them, go to someone who is an experienced sports memorabilia appraiser. A simple Google search can show you and verify. But the main thing is that this person is not interested in buying this thing.

So it should be a fair assessment of the value of the piece. I'm very glad it won't be my work, because I have no idea how they're going to do it.

However, they do take into account factors such as uniqueness, rarity, historical significance and of course also the weight of the precious metal. Then I would go to, if I decided to insure it, of course, people don't have to insure these items, but if I did, I would go to an insurer that specializes a little more in unique, possibly high-value items, because usually these policies don't have the limitations that a general insurance policy might have.

Then, based on the results of this assessment, negotiate with the insurer what compensation will be in the event of damage or loss. Here are the steps I would take.

JEREMY MAGGS: I'm interested in your observation about sports memorabilia, and you work in the whole elite risk process. Do you think there's a huge interest in sports memorabilia, and do people sometimes realize the value of what they can own?

TARINA VLOK: I'm sure people. We don't have access to all the details, but collections, any type of collection, are certainly very important as part of your insurance portfolio because these things have value. And the same thing with sports memorabilia. They have value, and their value is increasing.

It is therefore very important to assess the risk correctly and decide together with the assessor, broker and insurer how this risk will be handled.

JEREMY MAGGS: Tarina, I'm sure if someone wins a gold medal at the Olympics, it's not something you always want to keep, it's something you should be proud to show off. So you also need to, I guess, make sure the medal is properly protected if you're wearing it in public. Maybe something like a victory parade or arriving at an airport or something like that.

TARINA VLOK: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. When I was doing a little bit of research, because I remember last year with the Rugby World Cup, there were rumours that somebody was trying to steal the Webb Ellis Cup. Apparently, that was just a rumour. But what happened was a very excited fan wanted to grab the trophy. So it could have easily happened without the intention of stealing it, or it could have been stolen.

Therefore, it is very important for these winners to never remove these medals from their necks if they are in public, or to hand them over to anyone to admire.

These sound like silly things to consider, but these things are valuable and they can go missing. And of course, when it comes to unique and rare items, how you handle them is very, very important. Many collections are handled with gloves, these metals can tarnish if you touch them. So it's important to keep these items safe.

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JEREMY MAGGS: Another quick question: This also applies to storage being done correctly. Am I right?

TARINA VLOK: Yes, of course. As you rightly said, I would like to put it on display, so make sure it is in a secure display container and if necessary, have an alarm connected to it, especially if it is a very rare and valuable item.

I think about some trophies that might even be fragile, like tennis trophies, which might be made of crystal or something like that. So if you want to display these items, make sure they are protected from accidental damage and breakage.

JEREMY MAGGS: Tarina Vlok, I'm going to leave this here. Thank you very much for understanding. I don't think you and I will ever win Olympic gold, or at least I know I speak for myself.

TARINA VLOK: Definitely not (laughs).

JEREMY MAGGS: Thank you very much for talking with me today.

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