Lawsuit Claims $12,500 Pink Sapphire Bought In 1999 Turned Out To Be A Fake Worth Only $30

(via USA Today)

A Delaware woman says she was upset to find out she’d been showing off a fake on her finger for the last 16 years, after an expert deemed the pink sapphire in the ring her husband had bought for her birthday was worth only $30, instead of the $12,500 the couple thought.

They’re now suing the jeweler who sold the stone for the diamond-and-sapphire ring to the husband in 1999, claiming the man paid $9,000 just for the stone alone, when its value was allegedly only $10, reports The News Journal (warning: link has video that auto plays).

The husband had the gemstone examined in December by the American Gemological Laboratories for insurance purposes. When the report came back, the results said the pink sapphire had been produced in a laboratory, court documents say. By now, the stone has appreciated to about $30 from the $10 it would’ve been worth in 1999, according to the lawsuit.

“I was extremely proud of that ring,” the woman said. “I wore it a lot and got an awful lot of compliments. And all these years, I was wearing that fake. I feel like a fool showing off that ring. I can’t get that out of my head. Here all that excitement and Sam spent all that money, and it’s a fake.”

The husband has sued the business and its owners, seeking $37,000 to replace the ring, plus another $2,500 that he paid in insurance over 15 years. The jewelers had offered to replace the stone, but the woman said she didn’t want another sapphire from them.

The lawsuit in Delaware Court of Common Pleas alleges the business owners engaged in deceptive trade practices and breached their contract to sell a natural pink sapphire.

The jewelers responded to the lawsuit saying the couple’s claim is barred by the statute of limitations, and that the owners extended no warranties to the man when he bought the ring. They say the claim is because of wrongdoing by a Pennsylvania appraiser, and have filed a third-party lawsuit against that company.

$12,000 pink sapphire a fake, lawsuit says [The News Journal]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist