Our story begins after the diamonds have been cut and the diamond cutter submits them, along with 100 other diamonds, to the American Gem Society (AGS) Laboratory for grading.  While the diamonds are at the laboratory being graded, the cutter had the laboratory laser inscribe the diamonds on the girdle edge with the number for the corresponding lab report issued for each diamond, thus the inscription is noted on the diamond grading report.  We realize that we titled this article "a tale of two diamonds" however at the wholesale level, diamonds trade in parcels and one hundred is a more suitable number to begin our story with.

Upon completion of the grading process, the diamond cutter sent the diamonds out to his most prominent customers in hopes that they would like the diamonds enough to purchase them. Some of the diamonds were purchased by those jewelry stores and the rest were listed on the various multiple listing services (MLS) which are used by the trade in hopes that they would be found by other jewelry stores who use the MLS to search for diamonds beyond the realm of their usual suppliers. Eventually all of the laser inscribed diamonds were placed with retail jewelers who then in turn will sell them to their customers.

In order for our story to have depth, it begins about ten years ago when a loving couple we’ll refer to as Bob & Rita, walked into XYZ Jewelers to select their perfect engagement ring.  During the sales process, the retail jeweler made reference to the fact that the diamonds they were looking at had been inscribed with the number from the AGS diamond grading report that corresponds with each diamond.  The jeweler explained that an inscription is kind of like a registry number helps to identify the diamond.  The laser inscription registry was a concept that Bob & Rita really liked because, although they did not admit it to the jeweler, they did not feel comfortable trying to identify the different diamonds by their inclusions (internal clarity characteristics) because they really didn’t want to know that much about diamonds – they were merely in love and were trying to find the perfect symbol to express it to the rest of the world.

In the end with a little guidance from the jeweler, Bob & Rita selected an AGS graded, round brilliant ideal cut diamond weighing 1.01 carats which is VS-2 in clarity and H in color with medium blue fluorescence which was laser inscribed with the AGS logo and the number from the corresponding AGS diamond grading report.  For the sake of our story, we’ll say that the diamond was inscribed with AGS 123456789.

Bob & Rita left the jewelry store ten years ago feeling all warm and fuzzy that the diamond they had purchased was laser inscribed.  Bob and Rita understood the concept of registry numbers in terms of how they apply to motor vehicle licensing and product warranty registration, so they made sure to mention the inscription to their insurance agent when they added the ring to their homeowner’s insurance policy.  As a result of the diamond being laser inscribed, the insurance company provided Bob & Rita with a 10% discount on the annual premium of the insurance policy which made them feel even better about their decision to purchase a diamond with a laser inscription registry number.

Six months ago, a little less than ten seemingly short years after their initial engagement, Bob & Rita happened to lose their much treasured diamond while scuba diving in the warm waters of Cancun, Mexico.  Oh don’t worry, the ring did not slip off in the water!  As it happens Rita didn’t like the way her diving gloves fit over her ring, so she placed the ring in the tiny safe provided inside the hotel room before leaving for the dive.  Unbeknownst to Bob & Rita, there had been a series of hotel room robberies in the area and they just happened to be the latest victims.

When Bob & Rita initially returned to their hotel room to find the door ajar and all of their valuables missing, Rita was distraught so Bob gently reminded her that the things that were taken from their hotel room were “just things” and that everything could be replaced including the travelers checks which were stored in the hotel safe.  Unfortunately for Bob, he did not realize that Rita had put her wedding set in the tiny safe within the hotel room and his seemingly innocent “just things” comment sent her into quite the tizzy.

For the next three hours, Bob unsuccessfully attempted to comfort his wife while she sobbed over the loss of her beloved ring which was apparently “just a thing” to her husband.  About halfway through the ordeal, Bob further erred by pointing out that there was nothing to worry about because the ring was insured, and it was then that he was reminded yet again, that her wedding ring was not “just some thing” that could be replaced by an insurance company.  In fact, Bob was told that her wedding ring could never be replaced, her wedding set was irreplaceable… Still there was some comfort eventually provided by the fact that the ring was insured.

Unfortunately for Bob & Rita when they returned home and attempted to file a claim for the ring with their insurance company, they were informed that the small print of the policy omitted coverage for losses incurred outside of the United States.  Of course the insurance agent was very sorry for their loss and told them so with all sincerity.  Herein lies the lesson that not all insurance policies are created equal, but that is a topic that will be addressed elsewhere in the small print.

About a year after Bob & Rita purchased their engagement ring from XYZ Jewelers ten years ago, another lovely couple was enjoying a romantic dinner at Chez Yum when a somewhat nervous young man named Steve knocked the love of his life Samantha off her feet by proposing with a gorgeous one carat diamond ring!  You guessed it, the diamond is a beautiful AGS graded round brilliant ideal cut diamond from the same parcel of laser inscribed beauties by XYZ Jewelers.

Jump forward to last month, Steve & Samantha were at their “favorite restaurant” Chez Yum, revisiting the celebration of their decision to get married when Samantha realized that her ring was not on her hand.  Apparently Samantha had forgotten to put her ring back on after washing her hands in the ladies room just moments before.  Samantha had taken the ring off to dry her hands and set it down on the countertop.  Unfortunately the ring was not there when Samantha rushed back for it and needless to say she was devastated.  Steve filed an insurance claim for the ring the next morning while Samantha secretly hoped that whoever found the ring would see the reward offer that she had posted on the wall of the ladies room of the popular restaurant.

Unbeknownst to our other couple Bob & Rita, three months ago an immense stash of jewelry was seized by the police during a raid upon Casa de los Banditos y Drugas in Guadalajara, Mexico.  While inspecting the jewelry recovered during the raid, a police detective noticed a small inscription on the side of a diamond which read “AGS 123456789” which he typed that into Google in hopes of determining what it might mean and this is what he found:


Based on the search results, the detective concluded that the registry number of AGS 123456789 did not appear to be anything useful in terms of identifying the owner of the stolen ring.  While Bob & Rita remained in regular contact with the Cancun, Mexico police department, they were not aware that stolen jewelry is often used to finance criminal activity in other areas – so they didn’t think to contact police departments in other areas of the country and it likely would have not done them much good to do so since these departments are often overworked and underfunded.

The police department issued a press release to the local newspaper which issued a story and invited people to contact the police department if they could identify any of the stolen jewelry.  In accordance with local regulations, the ring was held for a little while in hopes that it would be claimed by the rightful owner and then it was sold with the rest of the unclaimed recovered jewelry at a police auction held to benefit a local charity.

While all of this was happening down in Mexico, as fate would have it here in the United States, it turns out that Samantha’s ring had been found on the bathroom counter of Chez Yum by a four year old girl named Lisa while her mother was indisposed.  Lisa slipped the pretty ring into the pocket of her dress where it was later found by her mother Brie while doing laundry.  Unfortunately the family dines out more than it eats at home and little Lisa could honestly not remember where she had found the ring; she is after all only four years old.

Brie and Lisa immediately took a trip to their family jeweler, who is of course our friend Jack the Jeweler “J.J.” of XYZ Jewelers, who looked the ring over carefully and located the inscription “AGS 123456788” along the girdle edge of the diamond.  J.J. informed the ladies that the inscription meant that the diamond had been graded by the AGS Laboratory and the number indicated the lab report number for that diamond.  J.J. remarked that the diamond was quite beautiful and just in case Brie was not interested in keeping it for herself, J.J. offered to purchase the diamond for a reasonable price, however Brie politely rejected the offer because she knew how upset she would be if this were her ring… lost.

That afternoon while Lisa was enjoying a much needed nap, her mother Brie turned to the internet to learn more about the AGS Laboratory and she telephoned the lab to determine who the owner of AGS 123456788 might be.  The customer service representative of the AGS Laboratory was very helpful, she told Lisa that the number on the lab report could in fact be used to determine which diamond cutting firm had originally submitted the diamond to the laboratory for grading; however that information could not be disclosed to the public or even the diamond trade for proprietary reasons and asked whether it would be all right to provide the diamond cutter with Brie’s contact information which Brie authorized.

The next morning, Brie was contacted by a customer service person employed by the diamond cutter in Antwerp who told her that they had sold the diamond to one of their customers in the United States, however they also could not provide Brie with that information for proprietary reasons – would it be okay if they provided the jeweler with Brie’s information?  And of course it was, so a few moments later as fate would have it, the jeweler Brie had consulted just the day before telephoned Brie to inform her that they had been the original seller of the diamond.  Unfortunately the jeweler had no way of knowing who the diamond actually belonged to because their sales records do not enable them to track diamonds by inscription or lab report number, they write all of their sales receipts by hand.  Apparently Jack the Jeweler is a fantastic and talented craftsman; however he is not that computer savvy.

That afternoon Brie stopped by her local police department to file a report on the diamond ring she had found and headed home in hopes that the owner of the diamond might also contact the local police department.  However the officer at the front desk of the police department gave Brie the impression that the odds of the diamond ever finding its way back to the original owner was extremely slight indeed and she watched with dismay as the report she had filed was tossed atop a pile of low priority reports waiting to be processed.

When Brie returned home, she hopped online to learn more about laser inscribed diamonds and she happened to stumble across a popular online diamond forum.  After discovering that diamond inscription registry numbers are primarily intended to reference the diamond grading report assigned to each diamond, Brie decided to start a thread of her own to share her frustration at not being able to find out who the diamond ring she had found belonged to.  Within a few minutes, a regular on the forum mentioned the GemTrack Diamond Inscription Registry and provided Brie with a link to this site.

Brie visited GemTrack and typed the number inscribed on the girdle edge of the diamond “AGS 123456788” into our diamond search form and within seconds discovered that the diamond she had found was indeed registered in the GemTrack database.  Brie then submitted a diamond found form which we received and began to process by contacting Brie to ensure that it would be all right to forward her contact information to the registered owner of the diamond – or would she prefer to send the diamond to us to be passed along to the registered owner.

Three hours later, Samantha was reunited with her beloved diamond ring while sharing dinner with her new friend Brie, et al, at Chez Yum!  Interestingly enough, Steve & Samantha had not originally registered their diamond inscription number with GemTrack when they purchased their diamond ten years ago because our service did not exist.  However when Steve met with his insurance agent to file a claim for the ring, the agent had inquired whether the diamond was registered with  GemTrack and explained that GemTrack is an online registry of inscribed diamonds designed to provide a correlation between laser inscribed diamonds and their owners.  Steve & Samantha registered their lost diamond with GemTrack the moment that Steve returned home and it is fortunate that they did because otherwise they might never have been reunited with their diamond.

While it is not possible for GemTrack to guarantee that diamonds registered in the database will be recovered, registration with our service certainly increases the odds of inscribed diamonds being reunited with their rightful owners by providing a correlation between the information inscribed on the girdle edge of a diamond and the owners.

It is the goal of GemTrack to become a resource relied upon by law enforcement agencies throughout the world.  The ability to search our database for registered diamonds is provided without charge.  If your diamond ring is lost or stolen, please tell your insurance agent and local law enforcement agency about the Gem Track Diamond Inscription Registry Data Base – it’s free and they might not be aware that it exists despite our attempts to make it well known as an available resource.

Myth: the number inscribed on the girdle edge of a diamond is a registry number that identifies the owner of the diamond.

Reality: the lab report number inscribed on the girdle edge of a diamond references the lab report issued with that particular number and little more…

Fact: the inscription present on the girdle edge of a diamond may be registered with GemTrack and relied upon to help identify the owner of the gem which might assist with recovery.

• GemTrace makes it possible for law enforcement agencies to cross reference the numbers inscribed on the girdle edge of recovered diamonds.
• GemTrace makes it possible for jewelry stores and pawn shops to cross reference the numbers on the girdle edge of diamonds to determine ownership.
• The GemTrace database is searchable by visitors to our web site to determine whether a diamond is registered with our service.
• The GemTrace database will indicate whether a diamond is registered, however the details of the registered owner are not disclosed to the public or law enforcement agencies without a legal order, i.e. subpoena or warrant.
• In the event of an inquiry that results in identifying the owner of a registered diamond, a customer service representative of GemTrace will contact the registered owner to expedite the recovery of the diamond or colored gem.

* As stated at the beginning of this article, this is a tale of two diamonds and it is a work of fiction as in, a tale, a noun, a narrative that relates the details of some real or imaginary event, incident, or case; story: a tale about Lincoln's dog.  Any similarity to events or persons of real interest is strictly coincidental and the name of the jewelry store and the retail jeweler are fictitious.  The AGS Laboratory is real and it is their policy not to reveal the names of their clients, probably for the same reasons we don’t reveal the identity of our clients.  The AGS Laboratory is not the only gemological laboratory that provides laser inscription services, we could have just as easily used the GIA, EGL, HRD, IGI, Zenhokyo or CGL as the lab referenced in the story, but hey, we had to pick one.