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When a body is cremated with diamond rings on?

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LovinAK

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Sorry about the topic, but my husbands Grand Ma was cremated with her wedding rings on. The mortuary meant to take them off after they picked up her body, but they got busy picking other bodies up that they FORGOT to take them off of her. They said in all of the years that they have been in the business has this ever happened to them and they feel awful about the situation. We know the gold will melt, but what will happen to all of the diamonds? Thanks so much for whoever can help with this topic.

Dina
 

mia1181

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Maybe you should post in RT so the diamond experts can weigh in. That''s very sad.
 

LovinAK

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Thank you, I wasn''t sure where to post this. I will message admin to see if they can move it.
 

musey

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Oh wow. I don''t know the answer to your question, but I just wanted to say I''m sorry to hear about the situation
7.gif
what an awkward thing to find oneself having to worry about after a loved one''s death.
 

decodelighted

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Call me cynical but I''d really wonder if someone stole them beforehand. Sorry about your situation! Terrible!
 

Eva17

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Sorry to hear about your situation...

diamonds will burn. i think somewhere over 1500 degrees. i am not sure to what degree though. i guess it would depend on how long it was exposed to the heat. maybe long exposure would create a heat explosion.

a burnt diamond can be re-polished to look new again. but it would loose some weight.
 

Ara Ann

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I kind of have to wonder too, if her rings were stolen...have they offered to give you the diamonds back? Either way, it is a sad situation...my sympathy to your family...
 

joflier

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I'm so very sorry to hear that. Diamonds burn to CO2 when exposed to high heat 800-900 celsius and oxygen. They turn to graphite when exposed to heat about 1500 celsius and no oxygen. I'm not sure what the temps are with cremation....
 

LovinAK

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They are going to sift through the ash when it cools. They want to make it right. This is such a sad situation. I really appreciate it to all that has responded to my post.

Dina
 

decodelighted

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If nothing is found ... I''d see if their insurance will pay out the monetary value of the rings. That''s not going to replace the sentimental value but it might help ensure they''re more careful in the future .. & give your family a bit of unexpected cash to memorialize her in some other way ... or give to her fave charity or something.

Very sorry.
 

cofor

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Unfortunately they will not be able to find any traces of the diamonds. As earlier stated they will evaporate at temperatures over 900 degrees celsius in a oxidising atmosphere. The crematory oven is well above that AFAIK.
Hope you can solve it via some insurance.
 

DiamondsDiamonds

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Dina,

What a disquieting occurrence -- I’m very sorry to hear about this.
 

Garry H (Cut Nut)

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That is sad, very sad.

The gold should be there, but may have melted and disseminated.

Diamonds will generally burn as the environment is designed to do that.
(That is why the company that claim to turn deceased persons ashes into diamonds seem to have been outed on this thread https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/memorial-diamonds-out-of-cremains-anyone-do-this-need-info.87521/ )

If you are lucky however they may have been burned on the outside only - I have seen this in an earlier aussie bush fire and we were able to reploish the diamond with only a few % loss.

I expect we will see some more because we have just had the most unimaginable fires here on Saturday and well over 100 lives have been lost and approaching 1,000 homes up in flames. We had a record high temperature for any Aussie capital city - 46.5C and dreadful hot north winds.
 

ButterBean

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Sorry for your loss. I am suspicious, though.
Methinks a technician took them and just told you they forgot.
 

LovinAK

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Thanks to all! I will pass the information along to my fil. I will let you''ll know the outcome of this situation. I am sure it will take a while to figure it all out.


Dina
 

Liane

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Date: 2/8/2009 3:06:22 PM
Author: decodelighted
Call me cynical but I''d really wonder if someone stole them beforehand. Sorry about your situation! Terrible!
This does happen a lot. Ambulance personnel also sometimes remove jewelry and claim it got lost while they were stripping the victim''s clothes off in the heat of the emergency (this happens mostly with cufflinks, watches, and long necklaces, as those are the most plausible pieces to lose). The vast majority of people who work in those fields are completely professional and would never dream of doing such things, but unfortunately there are a few bad apples everywhere.

Regardless, I''m very sorry for your loss, LovinAK.
 

LovinAK

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I wanted to update and let those who responded know what happened when the owner of the funeral home called my fil. The rings were definately STOLEN! They found no signs of any platinum/gold. So now my fil has to get a lawyer involved. What a mess this is going to be. Hopefully in the near future we can get some closure on this situation. Thanks for listening.

Dina
 

Lorelei

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Date: 2/16/2009 2:40:11 PM
Author: LovinAK
I wanted to update and let those who responded know what happened when the owner of the funeral home called my fil. The rings were definately STOLEN! They found no signs of any platinum/gold. So now my fil has to get a lawyer involved. What a mess this is going to be. Hopefully in the near future we can get some closure on this situation. Thanks for listening.

Dina
I am really sorry Dina.
 

Hudson_Hawk

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I''m so sorry.
 

glitterata

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That is awful! I hope they can catch the thief and recover your husband's grandmother's rings!
 

Diamond*Dana

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How awful...the thief who stole them must be a real monster!
I hope that they are able to catch the person and get the rings back to you...how terribly sad.
 

bee*

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I''m really sorry to hear that.
 

platinumrock

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I''m so sorry to hear that.
7.gif
 

Gailey

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Dina, what a horrible situation for your family.

I hope you have the police involved. Chances are that whoever was in a position to do this horrible thing, has probably done it before and will likely do it again if not stopped.

This would be very bad publicity for the funeral home involved. I doubt they would want it. I hope they are prepared to do the right thing by your fil and not get involved in a long drawn out expensive legal battle.

If your fil gets a lawyer involved, make sure he gets one with a good publicist.

Good luck.
 

Deelight

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That is terrible
38.gif
, I am so sorry to hear that
 

asscherisme

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Im'' so sorry for your loss of your grandma.

Second, that is just AWFUL. It would never occur to me that the funeral home would steal off a dead body. That makes me shudder.

My 90 year old grandma wears a fabulous 2ct diamond daily (she takes it off to sleep) she lives on her own. She gave away most of her other valuable jewelry including some to me, but the 2ct diamond is special to her and it makes her happy to look t it. Grandpa passed away a few years ago and it makes her think of him.

I would be horrified if it was stolen by a funeral home so I can understand how you must be feeling.

I really hope karma gets the person who stole it. Well, the law in the case I hope they are caught, but also karma big time. Anybody that would steal something so sentimental and irreplacable off a dead body is beyond low.
 

EricaR

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I am sooooo sorry for what you are going through!!! I hope a lawyer can help you out.
 

Tacori E-ring

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I am so sorry you are going through this. How awful! I would check local pawn shops for sure.
 
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