My mom''s diamond was stolen

[gailrmv]

I''m so sad, I just found out that this happened to my mom.
She has been married over 30 years and has (had) a 1 carat stone in a Tiffany style setting. She has always been bad about having it cleaned/inspected, but finally had it done recently. That jeweler told her she had a CZ in her setting. She was shocked! She confirmed with her original appraisal that she had had a real diamond, of course. She has no idea when it might have been switched, but she does remember having it cleaned about 5 years ago by a jeweler who was later "run out of town" for something sketchy. So perhaps at that time it was switched?? She is remarkably zen about the whole thing but that''s just the kind of person that my mom is. Unfortunately she has not kept her appraisal up to date and she does not feel it is worth possibly getting dropped from their homeowner''s policy for making a claim in the amount she had it insured for. I''m very sad and angry on her behalf! My mom is very sweet and trusting and I can''t believe someone took advantage of her this way. Since I have been into diamonds, about 5-6 years ago, I can recall thinking that my mom''s was not very sparkly, but I just thought it needed cleaning or was not well cut. Now that we know it was a CZ this all makes more sense.

My mom could definitely afford a new diamond, and I encouraged her to think about a replacement or an upgrade. But she is not into jewelry much, and feels she can''t justify the expense, plus she says she has been wearing this one for so long that it doesn''t really bother her. We''ll see. I showed her Pricescope and some of the vendors, and I also told her about some other sims because if she is going to have a fakey it should at least be a great fakey! So we''ll see.

Everyone, be very careful. My mom says she has NEVER left her ring for repairs so the swapping must have occurred while she was waiting - in just a few minutes. I know personally, I always inspect my ring carefully upon having to leave it, but I''ve never been too worried about it getting cleaned for 5 minutes. You can bet I will be careful now.

 

[AndyRosse]

I''m so sorry to hear that! My only question is whether your mom had a second jeweler verify that it is indeed a CZ.

 

[gailrmv]

Thanks for the note, rascal49.
Yes, she did. Her dad (my grandpa) is a retired jeweler who showed up promptly with his loupe. He had sold my dad the orig diamond and could tell right away that it was not right. I think everyone else in the family is more upset than my mom (or dad!)

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 5/11/2006 5:12:56 PM
Author:gailrmv

Everyone, be very careful. My mom says she has NEVER left her ring for repairs so the swapping must have occurred while she was waiting - in just a few minutes. I know personally, I always inspect my ring carefully upon having to leave it, but I''ve never been too worried about it getting cleaned for 5 minutes. You can bet I will be careful now.

sorry to hear that but,can it be switch in 5 mins?

 

[Dee*Jay]

Gail, so sorry to hear about this! Your mom is taking the whole thing much better than I would!

About the insurance thing though, isn''t that what it''s for? Assuming there haven''t been a lot of claims on the policy or any other issues I would think the insurance company would pay out a legitimate claim without even a thought of dropping the customer. (?)

 

[KristyDarling]

OMG your poor Mom! Thank goodness she is able to be "zen" about the whole thing, I''d be a wreck! This is one of those horror stories that you hear about and then think, "Please I hope that NEVER happens to me" and just pray, pray, pray that it doesn''t. I feel so bad for her! But I''m glad you presented her with some great vendor options. I hope she''ll decide to replace it with something spectacular!

 

[FireGoddess]

So sorry to hear this happened to your mom. I''m sure it''s everyone''s worst fear about their ring right up there with damage. But I agree that this is absolutely what the insurance is for. Why have it if you aren''t going to use it when you need to? I sincerely doubt they would drop your mom over having a claim, especially if she hasn''t put any claims on the ring in this long.

 

[mrssalvo]

I agree about filing it with her insurance. i had a claim on my old stone, they handled it beautifully and my rates didn''t even increase after it was settled. That is what insurance is for.

 

[Richard Sherwood]

By all means, advise her to file a claim.

That''s what she''s been paying for all these years...

 

[RockDoc]

I agree with the above - but


Do NOT hesitate. Your mother has an obligation to file the claim within a time frame from the date of discovery that it was switched. Most commonly I think that is 30 days.

ALSO it is imperative for her to file a police report as from a legal standpoint, the diamond is stolen. (Fraudulent conversion, is most likely the official legal terminology for it). Even though the jeweler was run out of town, he probably can be tracked down, and very possibly his jeweler''s insurance company may be able to subrogated against by your mother''s company to recover whatever they have to pay out in a claim.

As for the time it takes to unset and reset a diamond in the typical four prong mounting...... just takes minutes!!!!

Look carefully at the prongs for a flat straight line sort of looking marking on the outside of one or more of the prongs. If you see it, that is evidence that a prong lifter tool was used to remove the diamond.

Rockdoc

 

[gailrmv]

Hi! Thanks to everyone who wrote. I have been away from PS the past few days, very stressful at work!
Just wanted to clarify a few things, my mom had not had her appraisal updated since the 1970s.... so she didn''t think that the amount it was appraised for would be worth making the claim. It would definitely not be enough to get her a 1 carat stone which is what she had. She lost a diamond back in 1975 and made a claim and was promptly dropped from their policy! So it does happen, at least back then. She lives in a state with a lot of hurricanes so they do not want to risk the possibility of a big raise in their homeowners; she feels it is just not worth it. I hope she will replace it with something fabulous! I noticed that one of the prongs was barely holding onto the (fake) stone. I guess they had swapped it in a hurry and not done a good job. It really stinks! I had previously thought it took a little longer to mount a stone but I guess some of these folks are pros at the quick switch. Too bad they are not using their powers for good! I did encourage her to talk to the police and see if anyone else had made a claim against that jeweler and if they had found anything out. I guess she wants to put the whole thing behind her instead of getting aggravated, and while I would handle things differently, I gotta respect her choice.
Thanks again for the well wishes everyone.