All of us are familiar with the nearly reflexive reaction we see in some consumers regarding the honesty of jewelry manufacturers, including pearl and bead stringers.

When I was running the gallery, I was often approached for repair or re-design work. And, although these requests were always generated by the client, that is, we did not advertise or promote this service, occasionally the client, who wanted the work done, treated us suspiciously.

It did not happen often, but it did happen. And it never seemed to occur to them that I had no interest in ripping them off. That, apart from any ethical considerations, it simply wasn’t worth switching a diamond or gemstone, that my reputation with clients and with artists was and is my bread and butter.

This is true of almost every jeweler I’ve ever met. (Quite frankly, it’s my experience that far more deceit and attempted deceit occurs on the wholesale level than on the retail level.)

So, it’s nice to see a jeweler receive public recognition for a significant effort to correct a genuine wrong done the public by a jewelry company.

Tyler Kosmoski, a Wisconsin Diamond Factory owner, was arrested late last week for scamming customers out of thousands of dollars of jewelry. When the complaints surfaced and an arrest warrant issued, Kosmoski apparently closed the store and tried to disappear. (He was picked up after a couple of days.)

Customers who had left jewelry for repairs, placed deposits on jewelry, or consigned jewelry to the Diamond Factory had no idea whether they could recover their property or funds.

Enter Jim Storzer with Vosner Jewelers. The police turned the jewelry over to Storzer and asked him to identify the rightful owners.

It’s got to be a huge task. According to news and trade reports, Storzer is attempting to identify ownership of hundreds of pieces of jewelry worth approximately $100,000.

Storzer says he’s returned about half the jewelry to its rightful owners and is attempting to establish ownership of the remaining pieces. In addition, he’s offered to finish repairs that weren’t completed.

Storzer will earn repair fees and no doubt will add to his client base. But that doesn’t diminish the fact that he stepped up to unravel a gigantic mess.