Certificate terms

1. What the certificate is

A Sphere Certificate of Authenticity is a statement by Sphere that the piece of jewelry carrying the Sphere Nº shown corresponds to the listing under which it was sold, as that listing described the piece when the certificate was issued.

The certificate is issued on the basis of the listing and the description supplied by the seller. Sphere records and seals that description; it does not remove stones from their settings or examine them in a laboratory.

The certificate describes only the piece that carries its Nº, as of the date shown on it. It says nothing about any other piece, and nothing about how the piece has been worn, altered or repaired since.

2. What the certificate is not

The certificate is not a laboratory report, an appraisal, a valuation, an insurance document or a warranty of value. It does not state or guarantee what the piece is worth today or will be worth later, and it may not be described or presented as a guarantee, a valuation or an appraisal.

It is not a warranty from the maker or the seller. Your rights about the purchase itself, including returns, refunds and defects, are with the seller or marketplace you bought from, under their terms. Sphere does not agree to buy, replace or repair the piece, and nothing in the certificate is an offer to do so.

3. Stones, metals and measurements

Metal, hallmarks, stone type, carat weight, color, clarity and other details are stated as they appeared on the listing the piece was sold under, using the scale or system named there. Where a detail was not on the listing, it is not on the certificate.

Any assessment of a stone's color, clarity or cut is an opinion. Opinions can vary depending on when, how and by whom a stone is examined, and on the techniques and equipment used; different examiners and laboratories can express different opinions on the same stone, and their terminology may not correspond. A stone set in a mounting can be examined only to the extent the mounting allows.

Carat weights of mounted stones are as stated by the maker or seller and are approximate; stones are not individually weighed. Hallmarks are recorded as they appear; metal content is not tested.

Where the listing stated whether a diamond is natural or laboratory-grown, or whether a stone has been treated, the certificate carries that statement. A later examination may reach a different result because of wear, treatment, or techniques that were not available or not applied when the listing was made.

Sphere is not responsible for a discrepancy that results from another grading method, from the subjective judgment of an examiner, or from the details differing from what you expected.

4. The online certificate and copies

The definitive certificate is the page at sphere.inc that carries the piece's Sphere Nº. Printed cards, PDFs, screenshots and photographs of it are copies, not the certificate. A copy may not reflect the current certificate: if a certificate is revised or replaced, the page says so and the copy does not.

The certificate must be read as a whole. A copy that has been altered, cut down or taken out of context is void and may not be relied on.

5. The seal

When a certificate is sealed, a fingerprint of its details is written to a public ledger. The seal lets anyone check that the details shown today are the details that were issued. It does not examine the piece and does not confirm that the details are correct; it confirms only that they have not changed since they were sealed.

6. The Sphere Card

A Sphere Card opens the certificate of one piece. When the page says the card has been checked, it means the tap came from the card Sphere issued for that certificate. It does not by itself confirm that the piece in your hand is the piece the certificate describes; the certificate's details and images are there for you to compare.

A card that is lost, replaced or withdrawn no longer opens a certificate. A replaced card's certificate is unchanged.

7. Certificates issued in your name

When a certificate is claimed, the page shows the first name and last initial of the person who claimed it. A claim records who registered the piece with Sphere. It is not a title, a proof of purchase or a transfer of ownership, and it does not establish who owns the piece.

If the piece is returned to the seller, the claim is released and the page no longer shows the name.

8. Revisions and notices

Sphere may correct a certificate, issue a replacement for the same piece, or add a notice to it. The earlier certificate stays readable and marked as an earlier entry, and the current one carries the seal.

9. Limits of responsibility

The certificate comes with the piece at no separate charge to you, and what it adds is small compared with the value of the piece it describes. For that reason, and to the extent the law allows, Sphere and the people who work for it are not liable for any loss, damage or expense arising from an error or omission in a certificate, from its issue or from its use, including indirect or consequential loss, lost profit and loss of time, and their total liability for any certificate is limited to the price paid for the piece it describes.

Sphere gives no warranty of any kind beyond what the certificate itself states and disclaims every implied warranty, including merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Nothing on this website, in a printed copy, in promotional material or said by anyone on our behalf is a warranty, and no one is entitled to rely on it as one.

These limits apply to the person the certificate was issued for and to every other person to whom the certificate or the piece is shown. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

10. Use of the certificate and of the Sphere name

All rights in the certificate, its layout, the Sphere Nº scheme and the Sphere name and mark remain with Sphere; nothing in these terms grants you a licence to them. You may show a certificate, in its entirety, to anyone when offering or discussing the piece it describes, and you may link to its page.

You may not present the certificate as an appraisal, valuation or guarantee, use it or the Sphere name in advertising, publicity or promotion without written consent, imply that Sphere endorses a seller or a piece, or read certificates by automated means or by enumerating Nºs.