From a Betta fish brooch to a “dragon’s trove” of zircon eggs, here are seven pieces that’ve stuck with Associate Editor Lauren McLemore.
GIA Urges Return of Diamonds with Doctored Reports
Only 175 of the 1,042 diamonds with a grading report that was invalidated by the Gemological Institute of America in the wake of the hacking incident have been returned to the lab for reexamination.
Carlsbad, Calif.--Only 175 of the 1,042 diamonds with a grading report that was invalidated after two individuals hacked into Gemological Institute of America’s grading information database earlier this year have been returned to the lab for reexamination.
To address the trade’s concerns and to emphasize the importance of all the diamonds and their reports being returned, the GIA announced last week that it is offering a no-cost confirmation service for any diamond grading report that was issued by the lab between November 2014 and October 2015.
Anyone who may be concerned about the accuracy of a diamond grading report issued within this time frame can submit the original report and the referenced diamond to any GIA location for a confirmation service free of charge. The diamond and original report have to be submitted together using the service name “confirmation service” to obtain the no-fee invoice.
These no-cost services will be available to the trade until Jan. 30.
In October, the GIA reported that two now-former employees of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the contractor that supports its databases worldwide, gained “unauthorized remote access” to its grading information database and altered the color and/or clarity grades on a total of 1,042 diamond grading reports.
The two individuals who allegedly made the changes to the reports were arrested. The GIA has suspended the client accounts through which the diamonds in question were submitted, and the lab noted last week that the investigation into the fraud is ongoing.
A list of all 1,042 invalidated reports--along with the names of the 19 client accounts that submitted the diamonds connected to them--can be downloaded here on the GIA’s website.
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