Certification

All our osmium products undergo a defined authentication process and come with a certificate of authenticity issued by the Osmium-Institut zur Inverkehrbringung und Zertifizierung von Osmium GmbH (Osmium-Institute Germany) with headquarters in Germany.

Osmium is crystallised exclusively in Switzerland. All first deliveries go to Germany, where the Osmium-Institute Germany authenticates every single piece of osmium with a certificate. Every certificate bears a unique identifier, the Osmium Identification Code (OIC).

The Osmium Identification Code is a combination of letters and numbers, for example K – LM3D – T93G, and is structured as follows: The first letter refers to the article number (K refers to the large round bar), whereas the two following fields contain each a random combination of four letters and numbers which are generated during the authentication process.

Parties involved in the trade of osmium, including customs authorities, jewelers, wholesalers and private individuals, can use the Osmium Identification Code to verify the certificate and hence the authenticity of individual osmium pieces online as and when required. Certificates can be viewed directly online and downloaded in Portable Document Format (PDF). Verification and thereby access to information, including but not limited to high-resolution photographs, dimensions, weight and current price of individual osmium pieces, is only possible if the individual Osmium Identification Code is known.

Therefore, the Osmium Identification Code addresses the security needs of both sellers and buyers of osmium: Sellers are assured that they obtain an appropriate sale price, whereas buyers can be certain to acquire certified osmium.

It is impossible to retrieve an Osmium Identification Code which has been lost. In this case, the associated individual osmium piece needs to undergo once again the complete authentication process. As part of this process, a new Osmium Identification Code will be issued. This can only be done in Germany, since the Osmium-Institute Germany is the only authority worldwide that is entitled to authenticate osmium and issue certificates. Incurred costs for this service are borne by the customer. It is therefore important that you keep your Osmium Identification Code in a safe place.

To facilitate identification of osmium pieces with missing Osmium Identification Code in our database, you can provide us with high-resolution photographs of the surface crystal structure. Due to the nature of the crystallisation process, every individual product is unique and will always differ in weight and surface crystal structure from similar products having the same nominal dimensions.

In fact, the unique surface crystal structure acts like a fingerprint and provides additional security layer!