Future of perfect lap grown diamonds

[heididdl]

Not sure which forum I should start this discussion....

I am having a friendly discussion with a friend who is very well read and very interested in everything. He read that the lab grown diamonds are going to be able to enter the market within the next two years. He read that it these stones will be exactly like diamonds except they will be aged in the lab.. They will need to be cut like the ones we wear today but they will be sold at a fraction of the cost . Hence killing the current DeBeers diamond Market.

Thoughts.......

 

[SandyinAnaheim]

I can't WAIT to grow diamonds on my lap! My fiance will be a natural at growing diamonds in his lap - especially during football season!

 

[alpackie]

When I first started researching diamonds, I concentrated on only lab-grown diamonds for their ethicallly-sound origins. Here's what I've gathered:

Gem-quality lab-grown diamonds just recently entered the consumer market. Before, lab-grown diamonds were of lower quality and therefore only used in industrial and technological applications. DeBeers has recognized the threat of lab-grown diamonds infringing on their market dominance and has developed various ways of detecting them. They've invented a two-step process of detection. (1) Nitrogen (not sure about this element) occurs in both natural and lab-grown diamonds. The element is distributed between the bonds of the carbon atoms in natural stones, whereas it is bonded throughout various parts of lab-grown diamonds. (2) The fluorescence of natural diamonds is uniform throughout the stone, but lab-grown diamonds have telltale patterns of fluorescence.

With the technology of detection in place, all DeBeers has to do is market natural diamonds to the consumer. They say things like: "Wouldn't you want your partner to have something that's been forged in the earth over billions of years?"

As for the actual quality of lab-grown diamonds themselves, I believe they struggle to create truly colorless stones. The online vendors that sell lab-grown diamonds also do not use the reputable GIA/AGS certification labs (probably because they can get better grades from labs like IGI).

 

[alpackie]

I can't WAIT to grow diamonds on my lap! My fiance will be a natural at growing diamonds in his lap - especially during football season!

!!!!!!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

There is a sub-forum on PS called Lab Grown Diamonds. Probably more info there to read, and they may move your thread there. They've been making lab sapphires and other gems for a long time. It doesn't take the place of the real thing for me. I'd use a less expensive alternative if I wanted a natural diamond substitute for earrings or something.

 

[denverappraiser]

A few corrections in the above:

Colorless created diamonds cost about 80%-100% of the price of comparable mined stones being sold in the same market. 9/10 is indeed a fraction, but I doubt it’s what you mean.

The reason the growers use ‘alternative’ labs is that GIA reports on synthetic’s don’t include clarity and color grades, which customers want, and AGS doesn’t do them at all.

Although they’re mostly in the industrial marketplace, the largest producer of lab grown diamonds is DeBeers. They are a giant player in that marketplace and the vast majority of grown diamonds are sold for industrial, not gem, uses.

If you ask the admins, they'll move this discussion to the appropriate forum.

 

[heididdl]

thanks all and I asked this to be moved. For the record I would only buy and wear mined diamonds . I have NO interest in lab grown stones.

 

[alpackie]

The reason the growers use ‘alternative’ labs is that GIA reports on synthetic’s don’t include clarity and color grades, which customers want, and AGS doesn’t do them at all.

GIA's official website states that they offer a "full 4Cs assessment" for synthetic diamonds.

ETA: I see what you mean now. They do not differentiate within the "colorless" or "near colorless" grades such as DEF, GHI, for the synthetics.