Does my diamond have a serial number?

[Klynn19]

If I don’t have a certificate for my diamond how can I tell if it has a serial number?

 

[denverappraiser]

If it has one, it's usually in very small print on the edge of the stone. It's a little hard to see with a loupe but it's easy with most microscopes.

 

[utsav]

Was the diamond certified and by chance the certificate was lost? Then yes, it has the unique number written on the girdle of diamond.

If it wasn’t, then it doesn’t have any number on it.

You can look for yourself if you have an eyeloop or scope.

 

[denverappraiser]

Not all labs offer inscription services, not all that do will put it on every stone, and inscriptions have only been readily available at all for about 20 years. Even now, one of the most popular services offered by GIA does not involve an inscription.

 

[WinkHPD]

Diamonds are not cut with a serial-number. For sure, they do not come out of the ground with a serial-number. It is possible though that the diamond has been inscribed with an ID-number. The most popular is the report-number of the grading-lab used, but some cutters also inscribe the diamond with an internal production number or logo. This is not compulsory however, and the majority of diamonds have no inscription.

If you find a number, usually it is the report number of the grading-lab. I suggest checking the number on the report check website of the lab. For GIA, for instance, if that diamond has been reported stolen, GIA will not confirm the report’s details.

Wink

 

[OoohShiny]

For GIA, for instance, if that diamond has been reported stolen, GIA will not confirm the report’s details.

I never knew that!

It is good to know

Do GIA keep a central register of GIA-graded stones reported stolen? Does one have to report it to them direct? (I doubt all the police forces of this world have the time to update GIA every time! lol)

 

[WinkHPD]

Yes. If your diamond is stolen or lost let the lab know. GIA keeps track of these and even removes them from report-check so they cannot be verified. Incoming diamonds for grading are also checked against that list. I am not sure if these are spot-checks or if this happens on all incoming diamonds for grading but they do flag these cases.

Lieve Peeters of CBI (who also serves as industry-expert to the Belgian and other police-forces) has seen successful examples of stolen diamond being traced in this way by GIA.

Wink

 

[Paul-Antwerp]

Yes. If your diamond is stolen or lost let the lab know. GIA keeps track of these and even removes them from report-check so they cannot be verified. Incoming diamonds for grading are also checked against that list. I am not sure if these are spot-checks or if this happens on all incoming diamonds for grading but they do flag these cases.

Lieve Peeters of CBI (who also serves as industry-expert to the Belgian and other police-forces) has seen successful examples of stolen diamond being traced in this way by GIA.

Wink

Good remark, Wink.

As an example, a case of some 10 years ago. A rather big business of polished diamonds was stolen in Antwerp. Some of the stolen goods could be recovered from the thief, but the last trace of the majority of diamonds stopped in Paris.

No inscriptions, but months later, GIA noticed a few of the stolen stones being submitted to the lab by a trader, based in Israel. Investigating this further, the Israeli police managed to recover about 80% of the missing diamonds.

Live long,

 

[axelrich]

I never knew that!

It is good to know

Do GIA keep a central register of GIA-graded stones reported stolen? Does one have to report it to them direct? (I doubt all the police forces of this world have the time to update GIA every time! lol)

Same here.

 

[denverappraiser]

GIA neither knows nor cares who owns a particular diamond. They are pretty good at recognizing stones that they have graded relatively recently (20 years or so) but they offer no guarantee on this and they’re very picky about who they give even this much information to. It's a privacy thing. It’s not the level of security that people generally assume comes from adding a serial number. Gemprint.com has a more useful database for this.