lab/cultured whites - do they exist?

[wolfgang42]

Newbie here. I''ve searched and read the archives about the various issues regarding Gemesis, Apollo, and lab-created or "cultured" diamonds.



From what I''ve been able to tell, Gemesis is presently producing yellow and orange stones, and doesn''t expect to produce white stones in the near future. I''ve seen reference to the fact that Apollo is presently producing white stones, though it''s unclear how many, or how large.



I haven''t been able to get any solid information from the companies themselves. Basically, I expect to be in the market for a white engagement-ring stone within the next few months. I''d like to look into cultured diamonds as an option, but I don''t know if it''s reasonable to expect to be able to purchase one before the end of the year, or before the end winter.



Do any of the resident experts have an update on status?





-Wolfgang

 

[Jennifer5973]

From what I have read, these labs can only create "fancy yellow" hued stones in sizes < 2 cts (usually, around 1 ct average).

The ability to create "white" or near colorless stones has not been perfected as of yet.

 

[fancycoloredfan]

I heard the Apollo is making them but they can only do like 1/4 or 1/3 ct- and they're not out on the market.

Also, if you ever look at the retail prices for these diamonds, they are somewhat similar to the price of a (colorless) mined diamond. I've heard that they are not focusing on producing white cultured diamonds becuase they would be almost the same price as a colorless mined diamond.

The real price difference is between fancy colored diamonds that are natural vs. cultured...

They are really pretty though- you should check them out

-Ariana

 

[wolfgang42]

Thanks for the info! I've heard similar things, and I understand that the companies are trying to leverage the difference in price between high-priced natural colored and the lab created fancy coloreds.

I just wanted to check on the market for whites, as I figure that the folks who frequent this board might have info that a basic google search doesn't pick up.

It looks like I'll be shopping for a natural white after all, since the cultured whites don't seem that promising.

 

[perry]

I did a bunch of internet serching over the last several weeks on the very same question.

The basic answers that I found and figured out is that Gemesis is currently routinely produceing cut and polished "fancy" yellow diamonds up to 3 carats. They have produced some white diamonds in typical diamond range (G-I) but this takes much longer and is more costly per carat, and some larger than 3 carats (takes longer but no real cost penalty per carat).

Gemesis initially targeted the "up to 3 carat fancy yellow" market as their initial market.

Gemesis is currently expanding their facility from about 70 machines to over 250 machines.

Once they get over 200 machines they intend to expand into a routine production of larger than 3 carat fancy yellow diamonds, and into the white diamond ranges typical of most diamond jewerly.

Expect those diamonds to start hitting the market in 2005/2006 timeframe.

Apollo is producing clear rough white diamonds that are probably by now in the hundreds of carat range. These are very high clarity (few flaws) and reports put them as colorless or very nearly colorless.

Apollo is not focusing on jewelry applications at this time, and has produced relatively few jewelery diamonds. In fact, I believe that what hits the jewelery market is the "scraps" from their real goal.

Apollo is focusing on producing diamond wafers for the semiconductor industry. A diamond integrated circuit chip will massively outperform a silicon integrated circuit chip. Diamond wafers are also used for heat transfer applications (natural diamonds won't work becuase of the number of flaws and rarety of large stones).

Becaus of this goal, Apollo is focusing on growing larger and larger wafers diamonds, that are cut into wafers to grow the next larger wafer (each wafer being inspected to eliminate ones with any flaws.

Their goal is to be growing near perfect diamonds of at least 4" per side square (diamond does not grow in round shapes). At which point they will start producing diamonds that are at least 4" square and who knows how tall (it should be easy to go at least 4" tall, and probably not to hard to go 6" to 8" tall).

How would you like an "emerald cut" 4" x 8" clear and flawless diamond for your chestpiece... You could probably get one in 4 or 5 years...

Needless to say, once Apollo goes into wafer production there will be some seriously sized "scrap" pieces that can be converted into jewelery. Expect Apollo to enter the cultered diamond market in force at that point.

Detection of the two types of diamonds is relatively simple for a gemnologist. The gemesis diamonds have small defects with solidified melt material. The apollo diamonds are just to perfect to be natural (even a natural commercial flawless diamond (at 10x magnification) has lots of natural flaws at higher magnification.


I am also interested from a technical point of view on how it is done (and had outlined a basic machine to attempt the process several years ago similar to the Russian process being used by Gemesis. I had also thought of useing a different crystal growth technology similar to how silicon wafer crystal is grown. I was not aware of the vapor deposition technology that Apollo uses (I learn something new every week).

Perry

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

The only reason Gemesis can produce and sell is that fancy yellows went up in price a lot, but you can probably buy a HPHT treated natural fancy yellow jsut as cheap. and it is natural (sort of).

Appollo have done more for venture capitol fund raising me thinks than for gem creation. They have huge problems in clarity, getting rid of brownish and greyish color and of course depth / thickness. (he he size does count).

If you want your colorless diamonds un-natural - then buy a Lazar kaplan General Electric bellataire.

 

[kevinng]

... but the Bellataires I've seen don't look that great, compared to most premium H&As I've seen.