3 Beams Technologies of Hillsboro, Ore., the company that uses ion beams to brand diamonds, has developed an inexpensive reader for consumers. The company’s first reader, a microscope adapter priced at $400, is used by retailers but isn’t practical for consumer use.

The new reader takes the form of a jewelry box. Although the viewer is still in the prototype stages, the company has designs showing how the final viewer might look. “The jewelry box viewer is very easy to use,” says 3 Beams CEO Jayant Neogi. “Just insert a loose or mounted branded stone and view the brand—no tilting of the table of the stone perpendicular to the light axis, etc., as [was necessary] with the De Beers reader.”

The current price for the reader/jewelry box is approximately $100, but Neogi hopes volume production will lower the cost to below $50 per viewer.

For more information, visit www.3beams.com.