GCAL can provide a comprehensive risk analysis report in a variety of situations, including re-cutting and re-polishing risk assessment, guidelines for accident prevention, and inflated coverage protection.
Inherent vice and wear and tear are usually omitted from insurance coverage and must be carefully analyzed, detailed and illustrated in a forensic report. In many cases, our forensic reports help avoid costly litigation. When litigation has resulted, our reports have always been accepted, and never successfully refuted.
In our industry, a diamonds beauty, quality, and rarity is often times reduced to a few lines of description on a single page grading report or certificate. Naturally, there is room for discussion, even argument, especially in the level or purity of the color of the stone.
Diamantaires are often asked to repolish and refigure the faceting patterns to trap more light in fancy colored diamonds in order to get a higher quality rating. A higher color rating of just one grade can become a windfall of hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars, depending on the color, clarity, and carat weight. With such high rewards in sight, there is great incentive for the dealer to undertake high risk. If the underwriters don't have a complete analysis of the risks they are wide open for an enormous claim. We have seen cases where dealers have made claims of damage that pre-existed. Forensic analysis that can be clearly explained to a jury is priceless when needed. An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure.
Risk coverage needs truly independent risk analysis. There is no other lab capable of presenting such reports without some hint of advocacy, as GCAL.
In 2013, GCAL was hired by insurance underwriters to assess the processing risk associated with cutting and faceting the rough 25.50 carats ‘Petra Blue’ diamond which later became known as ‘The Blue Moon’. The faceted 12.03 carat Fancy Vivid Blue Flawless cushion-cut ‘Blue Moon’ sold for $48.4 million USD, at Sotheby’s Geneva sale in November 2015, and held the world record for the highest price per carat of any diamond sold at auction until October 2022. Pictured above is GCAL founder and President, Don Palmieri, holding the Blue Moon rough diamond.