Important to get laser inscription?

[babyclaw]

I had recently bought a beautiful .44carat diamond ring through bluenile. The diamond comes with a AGSL cert graded as Colour D, VS2, Ideal cut, Ideal polish and symmetry. However, it''s not laser inscribed. Is it important to get laser inscription for a diamond?? This is the first time we got a diamond ring and would really like to know how important it is to get laser inscription. ... We don''t know if it''s worth to spend the money to get it laser inscribed or not.

Thanks ~

 

[stone-cold11]

Laser inscriptions can be wash or polish off, so IMHO it is not worth the extra $. Just learn to read the inclusion map and see them in your stone under a loupe if you want to verify if the stone is yours, they are the finger prints of the stone.

 

[bagelboy]

Welcome to Pricescope, In my opinion, I would not laser inscribe your diamond. I believe it is already set in a ring correct? The diamond swapping myth is just that. Fifty or hundred years ago perhaps. The numbers are very, very tiny. You need a 30X microscope to read them. They fill in the numders or inscription with carbon black which soon wears or more likely is steamed cleaned off when you have your ring cleaned. And for the swapping part, the evil jeweler would need to have a diamond very close to yours and plenty of time to unset and then reset another diamond. Your diamond is a VS-2, it has very small inclusions. These inclusions make every unique. Once you learn where these inclusions are in your diamond, you can always check anytime you wish. Besides you are much more likely to lose the ring or accidently chip the diamond. I think that getting a insurance policy on your ring would be a much wiser use of money. I hope that I have answered your question. Congratulations on your engagement!!!

 

[arjunajane]

Date: 1/9/2009 2:25:02 AM
Author: bagelboy
Welcome to Pricescope, In my opinion, I would not laser inscribe your diamond. I believe it is already set in a ring correct? The diamond swapping myth is just that. Fifty or hundred years ago perhaps. The numbers are very, very tiny. You need a 30X microscope to read them. They fill in the numders or inscription with carbon black which soon wears or more likely is steamed cleaned off when you have your ring cleaned. And for the swapping part, the evil jeweler would need to have a diamond very close to yours and plenty of time to unset and then reset another diamond. Your diamond is a VS-2, it has very small inclusions. These inclusions make every unique. Once you learn where these inclusions are in your diamond, you can always check anytime you wish. Besides you are much more likely to lose the ring or accidently chip the diamond. I think that getting a insurance policy on your ring would be a much wiser use of money. I hope that I have answered your question. Congratulations on your engagement!!!

Ditto everything, great advice!

Hi babyclaw, I agree with the others - just make sure you take a lil bit of time to "get to know" your diamond - it will have quite small inclusions, but they are there.
All you need is a relatively cheap loupe - and for some, its also fun

Apart from that, just make sure your ring is insured for cover outside the home aswell as inside, for theft, loss, damage etc.
And most importantly, if you suspect a jeweller is capable of that kind of behaviour, run away! and take your business to someone you trust.

 

[Ellen]

Date: 1/9/2009 2:25:02 AM
Author: bagelboy
Welcome to Pricescope, In my opinion, I would not laser inscribe your diamond. I believe it is already set in a ring correct? The diamond swapping myth is just that. Fifty or hundred years ago perhaps. The numbers are very, very tiny. You need a 30X microscope to read them. They fill in the numders or inscription with carbon black which soon wears or more likely is steamed cleaned off when you have your ring cleaned. And for the swapping part, the evil jeweler would need to have a diamond very close to yours and plenty of time to unset and then reset another diamond. Your diamond is a VS-2, it has very small inclusions. These inclusions make every unique. Once you learn where these inclusions are in your diamond, you can always check anytime you wish. Besides you are much more likely to lose the ring or accidently chip the diamond. I think that getting a insurance policy on your ring would be a much wiser use of money. I hope that I have answered your question. Congratulations on your engagement!!!

Not quite, it does happen, though not as much as some might believe (I speak from experience). But I agree, just insure your stone, and learn to recognize the inclusions, if you can see them.

 

[Rockdiamond]

I agree that laser inscription is not really a deterrent to theft.
But someone mentioned that you can wash it off- which is not true.
It can be easily polished off by a diamond cutter, but that''s the only way to remove it.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 1/9/2009 9:54:13 AM
Author: Rockdiamond
I agree that laser inscription is not really a deterrent to theft.
But someone mentioned that you can wash it off- which is not true.
It can be easily polished off by a diamond cutter, but that''s the only way to remove it.

Thank you David, I didn''t think that was the case.

 

[Judah Gutwein]

Baby Claw,

A laser inscription simply adds another layer of protection, in that it makes it difficult for someone working on your ring (down the road) to swap your stone.

Is it foolproof? No.

The reality is that a laser inscription can be polished off (removed from) the girdle of the diamond in a short period of time by a competent diamond cutter. When this is done, there is no change to the structural integrity or visual appearance of the diamond, much the same way that the inscription application itself is of no deleterious consequence. If this happens, all of a sudden there is no attribution (save of course, for the normal size, color, clarity markers..) left to identify your stone.

This is a bit of a pain for anyone looking to pull a fast one, since they would have to be pretty desperate to swap for like size, appearance, and to re-apply a new and similar laser inscription (different fonts and carbon colors are used in many instances) to the fake in order to fool you into thinking that you got your stone back.

Insofar as what the previous poster mentioned about "washing off" an inscription; perhaps what was meant is that a laser inscription's actual carbon coloration (this is not the inscription itself, which is translucent, but rather the colored carbon which follows the laser inscription into the stone and is applied as a water soluble graphite coating to give the inscription visability and definition, albeit under magnification..) can and will often be removed when considerable heat is applied to the stone during the process of setting the stone into a ring.

Since the carbon is essentially only ink/dye, it can indeed be removed. This will make the inscription extremely hard to read as a result. However, for the actual inscription itself to come off, it can only be done by polishing it off the girdle of the diamond.

Finally, I know that many BN stones are accompanied by a GCAL grading document in addition to the GIA cert. GCAL uses the Gemprint technology to identify each and every stone.

This technology is a fascinating technology which I believe is a much stronger identifying marker than a laser inscription, since it cannot be removed or altered without cutting away a (considerable) portion of the (Gemprinted) stone.

We used to use this technology in-house before Gemprint was bought out by GCAL who uses it now exclusively for their own reports.


If your stone has a Gemprint, you should have nothing to worry about.

Best!

 

[hoofbeats95]

I was wondering if the "black" could come off! Hmm. Will come off with multiple cleaning of my ring! Cause I clean everyday. Or with the steam cleaning the jeweler does. I have an SI1 stone and I can''t find the crystals that the map shows. I can find a black spot but it''s my undertsanding that crystals are white, yes? In anycase I can read my inscription with a 10X loop. Not sure why you need a 30X magnification. Admittedly the ring has to be at just the right angle, but it''s not that hard to read it. I love that it''s inscribed. Can you get the "black" redone? Just curious.

 

[babyclaw]

Thank you so much for all of you guys help - it''s greatly appreciated
I just don''t know if it''s worth the hassle to get the laser inscription done now since the stone is already set @@ it''s from BN but it''s not from their signature ideal cut collection and thus, it doesn''t come with a GCAL report. It only accompanies with a AGSL report. I had inquired BN about the laser inscription and they had mentioned I could send the ring back to them and they can get it done for me but it would take time and money. Or, my another option would be finding another recognized jeweler from AGSL to send it in with my own expense. Should I still get it done or just make sure it''s insured?
I''m going to get my ring appraised this weekend and will see if I could learn to recongize the inclusions of my diamond i absolutely love my ring and think we had made a very good choice on the cut, colour and clarity. Would you guys have any recommendation of where I could purchase a 10x loupe and an ideal scope? I had never thought there''re so much to learn about diamond but now become very interested!
Thanks again for all of your help and you wouldn''t know how much I love this site (pricescope) - learn so much helpful information!!!

 

[Ellen]

Date: 1/10/2009 12:03:19 AM
Author: babyclaw
Thank you so much for all of you guys help - it''s greatly appreciated
I just don''t know if it''s worth the hassle to get the laser inscription done now since the stone is already set @@ it''s from BN but it''s not from their signature ideal cut collection and thus, it doesn''t come with a GCAL report. It only accompanies with a AGSL report. I had inquired BN about the laser inscription and they had mentioned I could send the ring back to them and they can get it done for me but it would take time and money. Or, my another option would be finding another recognized jeweler from AGSL to send it in with my own expense. Should I still get it done or just make sure it''s insured?
I''m going to get my ring appraised this weekend and will see if I could learn to recongize the inclusions of my diamond i absolutely love my ring and think we had made a very good choice on the cut, colour and clarity. Would you guys have any recommendation of where I could purchase a 10x loupe and an ideal scope? I had never thought there''re so much to learn about diamond but now become very interested!
Thanks again for all of your help and you wouldn''t know how much I love this site (pricescope) - learn so much helpful information!!!

I would just get it insured, and get to know your stone.

You can probably pick up a loupe cheapest on Ebay. If that doesn''t work out for whatever reason, just search online, there are many places that sell them. And Winfield''s sells Idealscopes.

Congrats on your stone!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I wouldn''t (and didn''t) worry about an inscription. It would be very unlikely that someone would risk jail for swapping out a stone under a carat (or even more than a carat), to be honest. As long as you use a reputable jeweler for maintenance, you should be fine. I''d go to one with a very good reputation who has been in business a long time.

I love having a loupe, but an idealscope is not all that important once a ring is set. You can only view the hearts when the stone is unset because you look at it from the bottom.