Lab Creates Tech for Identifying Stolen Stones

RAPAPORT… GGTL Laboratories has developed technology that can match a stolen diamond to its identification report, even after it is recut to hide its origin.

Technicians use a range of analytical identification data found in the stone, similar to a fingerprint. The information, which is derived through spectral and imaging
data, maps the internal features of a diamond. Those parameters are then stored in the Cullinan Diamond Report, a partnership
between GGTL and Cullinan Diamonds owner, Mark Cullinan, the great-grandson of Sir Thomas Cullinan, owner of the Cullinan mine. Using the data, the lab can identify a diamond
even if it has been physically altered, GGTL claims.

All other diamond-tracking methods that are currently on the market rely on factors such
as weight, cut and dimensions, or the presence of some tagging substance, GGTL noted. “The
method applied by GGTL Laboratories maps a stone’s defects via various imaging
and spectroscopy methods, properties that cannot be modified without treating a
diamond,” the lab said last week.


GGTL is issuing Cullinan Reports for high-quality white and
colored diamonds, it noted. The full Cullinan Report contains complete grading
information, including the 4Cs, in addition to the fingerprint, while the Short
Cullinan Report offers only analytical and imaging data, to avoid contradicting the
grades of an existing report from another laboratory, GGTL added.



Image: The Cullinan Diamond Report. (GGTL Laboratories)