One Missing Earring! -The Most Common Claim

You have seen it happen a hundred times, right? They only lost one but the jeweler says they need to replace the pair. WHY?

I think this is one of the most ludicrous statements in jewelry claims. 1 in a 100 might have a reason to replace the pair but the other 99 just want an easy sale. I had a jeweler tell me that they were cut to match when the diamonds were made and that is why it is almost impossible to match a single stone after it has lost it’s mate. WHAT? Do they think the consumer is that stupid?

Here is the skinny…this is the easiest task in the world and one that we thrive on here at Brilliant.

NO! #1:The diamonds were paired from the start. NO,The diamonds weren’t cut to match, somebody sat at a table with a bag of cut diamonds of similar clarity and color and matched a pair. They did it once, why can’t they do it again…It may have been a good match, it may have been a bad match but the main factor is that they weren’t cut to be a pair.

NO! #2: It is almost impossible to match up a single diamond, you need to just get a new pair. NO! It isn’t impossible to match up a single diamond after loosing the other, it is actually quite easy depending on your ability as a jeweler and your network of diamonds. The problem here is that most jewelers have a stash of diamonds that they want to use and the chances of them having a match are pretty low. So they would much rather just sell you a pair they already have.

NO! #3: The match only has to be CLOSE, because they are going to be on opposite sides of my head! (Can you say it with me.) NO! NO! NO! Would you be happy if the shutters on one side of your front window were not the same as the other side? NO! Well then why settle just because it is jewelry and some jeweler is telling you some gibberish! The fact is there are some very important factors when matching a diamond and there are some not so important factors. There however is no reason they should NOT match, it can be done quite easily by a person who is competent in diamonds.

How to turn the 3 NO’s into one YES? Easy, have Brilliant or some competent jeweler handle the match. Once you get the diamond it is very simple to match because you have the other diamond and don’t have to trust documentation. (You can NOT replace an earring without having the other half and be even close) The reason, most documentation isn’t even correct when it comes to the real color of the diamond, but we aren’t going to go there, that is a topic for another day. Let me walk you through the process of matching the diamond.

1. Receive diamond and clean it thoroughly after removing it from the setting. The setting is the toughest part to match so we just give the client 2 new settings. The cost is minimal and allows them to change color (white to yellow, yellow to white etc.) type of back (screw, friction, clip etc.) or any other style change they might desire as long as the cost doesn’t change.

2. Once clean, we place it on a Sarin machine that does a laser analysis of the stone and gives us a read out with all the angles and dimensions that we need to find it’s long lost sister.

3. We check for fluorescence to make sure what kind of reaction it has to UV light…the sun is UV light so if you are planning on wearing them outside this is an important feature of the process so that you don’t get one blue diamond and one white diamond.

4. We then input all this information into our database that has millions of diamonds and bring up the best match.

5. Last, we have it shipped to us for visual inspection and place the diamonds in their new settings. A color picture appraisal is done and then we send it off to the client for their final approval.

We believe that you should always match the existing stone and not replace the pair. There are however exceptions to that rule and don’t want you to think that it can’t happen. Fancy shaped diamonds can be more difficult. If I had to match a 2ct heart shaped diamond of specific color and clarity that would be very hard. The more rare the cut or quality the more difficult it can be.