Below are some examples of damage to diamonds and jewelry, as well as some images of natural features of diamonds that are sometimes called damage by untrained jewelers. It should be noted that almost 60% of all lost diamonds are due to failure to maintain by the owner. And many of the damage reports issued by retail jewelers are erroneous due to lack of proper training in what is, and is not, a damage event. The information below will be expanded in the coming months. If you have requests or suggestions please let us know.

 Damage Event

Here you will notice how the red arrow points to the point of impact. At this point the diamond was subjected to a damage event that caused a large loss of diamond crystal. The layered effect of the break is also evident which is another strong indicator of a damage event. Sometimes, a jeweler will push too hard on a prong and cause this type of break also. Being able to inspect this diamond before it was unset we were able to determine that the damage was not under a prong...but in between the prongs...which allowed us to know that this was an impact event and not jeweler error.

 Damage Event

Here is another damage event. Notice again here that this damage is between the prongs and not under the prong. This indicates a damage event from an external force or blow.

 Natural

Here is a classic inherent natural that was mistaken for a damage chip. Notice the difference from this feature to the damage features above. This one is layers down the side of the stone, rather than extending in a growing pattern towards the bottom of the stone. The layering effect is classic for a natural crystal surface which makes this feature pre-existing and not damage.

 Failure to Maintain

Someone just wore this ring until the diamond fell out. Notice at the arrow on top that the prong appears paper thin. And the prong on the lower right is partially missing. This was the cause of loss of this diamond...failure to maintain.

Poor Workmanship

Notice at the arrows how much thicker this prong is than the other. And notice that the prong tip is missing with a big hole in it, and if you look closely you will see smaller holes running down the side. This is due to poor workmanship. Someone tried to repair the prong but the solder because very porous, which caused the holes you see. The big one at the top most likely extended across the prong and caused it to break off....and the diamond to be lost. A very good case for subrogation against the jeweler.

 Poor Workmanship

Another workmanship issue. Notice the same porosity at the arrow at left as you saw above. And notice that both of the prong tips on the right are missing. This was another case of porous solder and repairs of prong tips. The diamond was lost in a short period of time due to this condition.

Poor Workmanship

Some of the worst of all. Here you have two diamonds that were set with one on top of each other. And due to the stresses of daily wear, the bottom diamond broke a large chip off the top diamond. This is a clear case of poor workmanship as diamonds are not supposed to be set in this manner. These diamonds were too big for this setting and the jeweler simply overlapped them to make them fit. This is one of the clearest cases of subrogation that you will see.