Over the previous few years, lab-grown diamonds have obtained a number of hype and notoriety. If you happen to google them, it seems that these synthetic gems are tremendous. However beware! Lab-grown diamonds are undoubtedly one of many largest jewellery scams prior to now 50 years. Hold studying to study why!

Most customers aren’t even conscious that the Federal Commerce Fee needed to intervene. See under.

Brief Historical past of Lab-Grown Diamonds

Right here’s a really brief breakdown of the 150-year historical past of lab diamonds.

Within the late 18th century, scientists found that diamonds are constituted of pure carbon. This prompted them to start out growing strategies to develop diamonds below synthetic situations.

James Ballantyne Hannay and Frederic Henri Moissan gave it a good shot, however by immediately’s requirements, their methodology was crude. Inside a crucible furnace, they heated charcoal to greater than 3,500°F along with iron. Then, they cooled the iron to create the strain wanted for diamond creation. This primary experiment flopped. However it motivated others to strive their luck with the method.

In 1953, ASEA, the Swedish utility firm, claimed to have developed the method throughout 1953. But, they stored it a secret till nicely into the Nineteen Eighties.

Normal Electrical (GE) is credited with producing the first lab-grown diamonds in 1954, below the codename “Venture Superpressure.” This groundbreaking work concerned utilizing excessive strain and excessive temperatures to rework graphite into diamond. Initially, these diamonds had been too small for jewellery and had been primarily used for industrial purposes. It wasn’t till 1971 that GE produced gem-quality artificial diamonds, though these early variations had been typically yellow and contained many inclusions.

How Are Lab Grown Diamonds Made?

There are two primary methods to make lab-grown diamonds. See under for extra info.

• Excessive-Stress Excessive-Temperature (HPHT). This methodology includes inserting a seed right into a extremely pressurized and heated mould after which dissolving molten metallic into it.
• Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD). This methodology includes inserting carbon-based gases right into a chamber, energizing them, and offering good situations for the expansion of the diamond.

Normally, the machines must run for a few week to yield a 1-carat diamond. Throughout the early years, the lab-grown diamonds had been of poor high quality. The gems had been yellow and brown. This was as a result of they obtained contaminated with nitrogen and nickel.

Nonetheless, including titanium or aluminum allowed the producers to provide pure white diamonds. And if boron will get added, diamond laboratories get blue gems.

Click on right here to skip straight to the place we clarify why shopping for a lab-grown diamond is a large rip-off.

The 5 Totally different Kinds of Lab-Grown Diamonds

The several types of lab-grown diamonds may be primarily categorized into two foremost varieties:

Simulant Diamonds (AKA Faux Diamonds)

These supplies resemble diamonds however will not be composed of carbon crystal constructions like real diamonds. They solely share some visible similarities with pure diamonds.
Examples embody:

1. Cubic Zirconia Simulants: These are reasonably priced and visually just like diamonds however lack sturdiness.
2. Diamond Nexus Simulants: These are recognized for higher sturdiness than cubic zirconia and are constituted of a mixture of carbon and different substances.
3. Moissanite Lab Gem stones: Created by means of a laboratory course of, they’re recognized for his or her brilliance and hardness akin to diamonds.

These kinds of “diamonds” are those that you just’ll see on eBay for $10 per diamond. They appear 80% actual and can idiot most newbie jewellery fans.

Cultured Diamonds (Lab-Grown Diamonds)

Carbon diamonds produced in a lab share the identical bodily, chemical, and optical properties as mined diamonds. As talked about earlier than, there are two kinds of lab diamonds.

Cultured lab Diamonds may be divided into:

1. HPHT Artificial Diamonds: Created below excessive strain and excessive temperatures, replicating the pure diamond-creating situations. They’re carbon diamonds with nearly similar traits to these fashioned underground.
2. CVD Diamonds: Grown from a hydrocarbon gasoline combination utilizing the Chemical Vapor Deposition methodology. This system is favored for its flexibility and impurity management, making it fashionable for industrial purposes and analysis.

These lab-created diamonds provide a extra reasonably priced various to pure diamonds whereas sustaining a lot of the fascinating properties of their pure counterparts​​​​.

Lab-grown carbon diamonds’ foremost attract (and pitch) is that they’re at the least 60% cheaper than pure diamonds. However are lab-diamonds actually your most cost-effective choice?

Let’s examine all of your choices. Let’s say all three choices had been equal, measuring at G coloration, VS2 readability, and weighing 1.50 carats:

• The Pure Diamond will value $10,000.
• A Lab-grown Diamond will value round $2,800.
• A Artificial Diamond will value below $100.

Our level is that when you don’t need to pay the value of a pure diamond, we fully perceive. It’s costly, and never for everybody, however in that case, we strongly advocate going straight to an artificial diamond. The lab-grown diamond shouldn’t be the most affordable various, and as you will notice under, can be a extremely dangerous concept.

2. Lab Diamonds are Unsellable

The resale worth of lab-grown diamonds is non-existent. That is essentially the most compelling cause to keep distant from lab-grown diamonds!

In different phrases, when you go to a random jeweler and provide to promote them your lab-grown diamond, they won’t purchase it, at any value. Even the jewelers who promote lab-grown diamonds are not looking for them again (until their return coverage forces them). They’d slightly simply print a brand new diamond for a fraction of the promoting value than purchase them again, even at a fractional worth of what they had been bought at.

That is essentially the most compelling cause to hold distant from synthetic and lab-grown diamonds.

“There’s nothing uncommon or distinct a few lab-grown diamond,” says Benjamin Khordipour. “There is no such thing as a market cap or management on what number of may be made out there. They’re fully nugatory in my eyes. Nobody I’ve met within the jewellery commerce needs to purchase them.”

Counter Argument: It’s possible you’ll argue that you haven’t any intention of ever promoting the lab diamond out of your engagement ring, to which we counter that case, it’s best to simply purchase an artificial diamond.

3. Lab Grown Diamond Costs are Falling Quickly

We’ve been watching the lab-grown diamond market fastidiously over the previous few years, and we’ve seen a large drop just lately.

In different phrases, the lab diamond costs are falling in a short time. Too rapidly.

“Some of the alarming points with lab-grown diamonds is their huge worth drop,” says Benjamin Khordipour GG, Chief Gemologist at Property Diamond Jewellery. “They’ve misplaced over 80% worth from 2016 to 2024, which is just one of many huge crimson flags related to lab-grown diamonds. I estimate that they’ll drop 200% extra earlier than 2025.”

4. The FTC’s Involvement in Lab-Grown Diamonds

As quickly as lab-grown diamonds hit the market and started to make waves, the FTC noticed a large downside. Jewelers had been promoting lab diamonds and never clearly marking them as lab-grown.

In 2018, the FTC began a crackdown on jewellery firms representing their lab-grown diamonds as real, naturally mined diamonds. In truth, in accordance with the FTC, utilizing the time period “diamond” for a lab-grown diamond is prohibited until you add a descriptor that makes it clear that it’s lab-made.

Right here’s an article from USA As we speak to get a greater concept. In brief, lab-grown diamonds have an uncomfortable factor that’s now related to scams and shady enterprise practices.

Necessary Be aware: Primarily based on FTC guidelines, if a retailer needs to promote lab-grown diamonds or gems, they need to declare that it was made in a lab. They can’t depart it ambiguous.

Are There Any Execs of Lab-Grown Diamonds?

As you’ll be able to see, we’re very uncomfortable with lab diamonds, however to be honest, there are only a few constructive parts about lab-grown diamonds. Listed here are just a few of the advantages of lab-grown diamonds:

1. They’re much cheaper, and despite the fact that their resale worth is nonexistent, you don’t must put down as a lot cash as a pure diamond. (In fact, if you wish to get monetary savings, we advocate buying an inexpensive Cubic-Zirconia diamond for below $20.)
2. Lab diamonds are nice for industrial functions. The Mohs rating is excessive, and they’re nice for drilling and manufacturing makes use of.
3. Lab-grown diamonds are higher for the setting than earth-mined diamonds. It is because of this that we promote classic diamonds, that are even higher for the setting than lab-grown diamonds.

Learn how to Authenticate In opposition to Lab-Grown Diamonds

The excellent news is that GIA and {most professional} diamond certification firms can simply let you know if a diamond is pure or lab-grown.

“With colorless HPHT synthetics, the distinction in fluorescence coloration between development sectors is rather more delicate and may be troublesome for a gemologist to detect even whereas rotating the pattern within the DiamondView.” – Gemological Institute of America.

Including gas to the fireplace, Chinese language firms have been mass-producing artificial diamonds. And so they’ve managed to get stones bigger than 10 carats when lower.

That being stated, GIA nonetheless decided that it’s doable to distinguish between the 2 as a result of all lab-grown diamonds have an odd fluorescence sample. When subjected to imaging devices, synthetic diamonds present odd patterns. These aren’t the identical as pure diamonds of the identical readability and coloration.

The issue is that a budget diamond testers in the marketplace can’t differentiate between pure and lab diamonds. For that cause, in case you are suspicious of a diamond, ship it to get examined by a certification firm.

In conclusion, the specialists can decide the distinction between real pure diamonds and lab-grown synthetic diamonds.

Remaining Ideas and Verdict

We perceive that, as a vendor of pure diamonds, we’re not fully goal. That stated, if we believed lab-grown diamonds had been a good suggestion, we might promote them in our retailer.

We haven’t bought unnatural diamonds on our web site, and we gained’t. And for all the explanations talked about all through the article, we additionally consider that lab “diamonds” will not be an moral product in any respect.

In conclusion, we firmly consider in utilizing what’s already on the market and are robust proponents of vintage diamonds. Vintage diamonds are environmentally aware, prettier, and romantic and carry their value higher than any artificial or lab diamond.