Abstract: Identifying and ensuring object authenticity can occur by identifying an object by acquiring an image of the object, identifying flaws present in or on the object, associating the flaws with respective locations or regions in the image, determining a quality score indicating a condition of the object based at least upon an analysis of the identified flaws, and generating and storing a data record with all of this identifying information. A tag which provides an identifier that links the object to the data record is placed on the object. When authenticity of the object needs to be verified at a later time, the tag identifier is retrieved and used to retrieve the data record. The identifying information can then be compared with the object as it currently appears. If the object as it currently appears corresponds with the identifying information, authenticity is verified. Otherwise, fraud can be suspected.

Abstract: A condition of an object is evaluated with improved uniformity as compared to conventional schemes. For example, flaw types and severities associated with flaws potentially present in a certain category of objects are predefined, along with rules for evaluating the condition of objects of the certain category based at least on the flaw types and severities. In this manner, any user, expert or not, can uniformly evaluate the condition of an object merely by identifying and inputting the flaws according to the predefined flaw types and severities. In addition, the predefined flaw types, severities, and rules can be changed by a user or otherwise at any time, and different sets of predefined flaw types, severities, and rules can be generated for each of a plurality of different categories of objects, thereby providing a fully configurable and flexible evaluation system.