Kokua Line

By Hildegaard Verploegen

When he bought the brilliant cut diamond with a platinum six-prong ring mount, he was told there was no one around to sign the certification papers but they would be signed and mailed to him later.

My son wrote to G. Ishihara at the store Nov. 9 but has heard nothing. In December, I went to the store for my son and spoke with Mr. Ishihara and again provided the invoice number and a copy of the sales slip. He said something to the effect that he'd look into it.

Six months have passed; we've received no response and still have no certificate to identify or value the diamond. Can anyone help us? A diamond normally is cherished for a lifetime.

Ishihara's letter will include a note to say your son should bring the diamond ring back to Hallmark Jewelers the next time he is in the United States and Ishihara will do a complete appraisal at that time. That appraisal will take about an hour and there will be no charge to your son.

Robert Ishihara said he is the person who normally does the appraisals and letters of certification. He said he was out of the country six weeks on a combined business-pleasure trip around the time your son purchased the ring. But there are other staffers at Hallmark who do appraisals when Robert Ishihara is absent.

Because of information penciled on the sales slip, Robert Ishihara said he thinks a letter of certification was mailed to your son. He could not provide a date, however, and said there is no copy of an appraisal-certification letter in Hallmark's file.

Those letters are used both to identify and value a stone.