Thursday, February 5, 2009

Jewel Identification and Theft

Because each gemstone is unique when considered with all its variables (cut, color, irregularities, inclusions, refraction, reflection) it is possible to photograph a particular stone and record its measurements and ratings to establish a unique fingerprint that will identify that stone as surely as a serial number.

This procedure is now being carried out on certain stones by certain insurance companies and individuals. The cost factor is prevalent.

Even if a stone is "fingerprinted" and then stolen, there is no centralized source location that every buyer or even every jeweler or gemologist will check before purchasing the stone. This record comes into play more often when a stone is recovered and ownership is in question.

There are some exceptions to this rule. Stones that are of immense value or highly individualistic are put on hot lists. Organizations such as Interpol keep a record and submit copies of printed information along with any suspects' names to various countries' police agencies, and a group called the Jeweler's Security Association puts out bulletins and occasionally flashes to their various members on particularly bold, large or unusual gem thefts.

The criminal counter to this type of record keeping is to immediately remove any stones from their mountings and melt the mountings down for the precious metal they contain. The stone is then sold individually or mixed in with a group of other non-illegal stones and sold in a grouping. As anyone knows, if the stone is held a while, the "hotness" becomes less of a factor in a sale.

Large, unusual or famous stones can be taken to a less than honest cutter, who can cut the stone down into a number of smaller stones. This naturally wastes some of the material as does any cutting procedure and makes the stones intrinsically less valuable as size is a coveted asset in investment quality (or even jewelry quality) gemstones.

In spite of identification and insurance company efforts, jewels still remain one of the most highly sought after targets and any jeweler or diamond cutter realizes he must constantly update his security precautions and it is still probably only a matter of time before he is hit. Insurance rates for these people are fairly substantial as one would imagine.

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