Amazingly interesting story

[The-Betrothed]

This one could start a lively debate. It''s long, but please read the whole thing if you have time.

The New Diamond Age

 

[NewbieHere]

Very interesting article. Could one assume with the perfection of man-made flawless diamonds, that the flaws in those created by nature may become "desirable" as a way of authenticating a natural diamond versus a man-made version.

That said, would "flaws" then make a natural diamond more valuable?

 

[aljdewey]

This article was just discussed recently, and the upshot was that there IS a noticeable difference in the man-made stones. If recollection serves me correctly, a few commented in that thread that the synthetics have a brown tone to them that is easily noticed when compared side-by-side with natural diamonds.

 

[The-Betrothed]

The article says that there is no way to distinguish and this technology is brand new as of right now. Other synthetics may have been distinguishable, but apparently these are not.

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On 8/13/2003 10:51:16 AM aljdewey wrote:

This article was just discussed recently, and the upshot was that there IS a noticeable difference in the man-made stones. If recollection serves me correctly, a few commented in that thread that the synthetics have a brown tone to them that is easily noticed when compared side-by-side with natural diamonds.
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[Nate]

Look here.

https://www.pricescope.com/forum/steam-room/wired-on-synthetic-diamonds-t8508.html

 

[aljdewey]

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On 8/13/2003 2:27:10 PM The-Betrothed wrote:
The article says that there is no way to distinguish and this technology is brand new as of right now. Other synthetics may have been distinguishable, but apparently these are not.
----------------

(SIGH).......Are you saying what I think you're saying? "The article SAYS there's no difference, so it must be true"? I don't think you understood what I told you, so I'll repeat it.

We just discussed the very same article here. It appeared in WIRED, and was written by Joshua Davis (a journalist). The article discusses synthetic diamonds produced by Gemesis and Apollo.

So the point is? Just because the article says they aren't distinguishable doesn't make it factual. This was written by a journalist, not a gem expert. To my knowledge, not only is he not an appraiser, he's not even in the jewelry industry!

Call me crazy, but I think the GIA's opinion is much more relevant. The GIA Gem laboratory just evaluated four Apollo Diamonds, and here is an excerpt from their analysis (hint: pay really close attention to the bolded, underlined parts):

"Apollo Diamond Inc. of Boston, Mass., has successfully grown facetable laboratory-created diamonds. Four crystals (0.34-0.87 ct.) and four faceted samples (0.14-0.31 ct.) were submitted to the GIA Gem Laboratory for examination. The faceted samples ranged from faint brown to dark brown (see figure). Clarity was equivalent to VS1 to SI2; some small and irregularly shaped gray-black inclusions were observed in some samples, due to deposition of diamond-like carbon or graphite (as suggested by Raman spectroscopy). Characteristic strain patterns were observed, which were different from those seen in natural diamonds. "

This is saying that the synthetic diamonds are brown-tinted, and they have strain patterns of a nature that aren't found in natural diamonds. I trust that some experienced gemologists/appraisers would be able to see these differences if the GIA can find them.

 

[mike04456]

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On 8/13/2003 2:27:10 PM The-Betrothed wrote:
The article says that there is no way to distinguish and this technology is brand new as of right now. Other synthetics may have been distinguishable, but apparently these are not.

----------------

The article is incorrect on a number of things, one of which is this assertion. Apollo diamonds are very interesting but they are not undetectable.

 

[greymase]

Of course, the discussion of the synthetic diamonds as jewelry is interesting, however, it seems that the real money is in their industrial use. They only seem interested in a brief foray into the jewelry market to finance their other interests (long enough to somewhat deflate the price of naturals IF they are successful). Does anyone here know:

1) The investor relations contact information for either Apollo or Gemesis?, and/or,
2) how to short the value of naturals in the spot market?

BTW, the above questions are NOT predictions on my part. I would just like to be ready to take advantage of the potential changes in the markets.

 

[Richard Sherwood]

-----------
The article says that there is no way to distinguish
and this technology is brand new as of right now.
Other synthetics may have been distinguishable, but
apparently these are not.
-----------

The company which makes the Gemesis diamonds is located here in Sarasota, Florida. I know the director, Bruce Davidson, and have examined many of their diamonds.

The article is absolutely incorrect, and another example of irresponsible sensationalistic journalism.

If you'll refer to the following thread, I've posted pictures of the Gemesis lab created diamonds, along with a short commentary of how relatively easy they are to spot by a gemologist with the proper training and equipment.

https://www.pricescope.com/forum/steam-room/photos-lab-created-fancy-intense-t8320.html

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Good one Rich!

There will always be a way found to tell treated or synthetic stones from natural.

 

[elmo]

Are you guys confusing Apollo and Gemesis regarding what the article writes about detection? I thought that the Apollo product was what they were referring to. I somehow thought that if they were planning to manufacture a diamond substrate for a semiconductor, it would have to be extremely pure and uniform, like the silicon that's used for chip making. If it's brown and has impurities, I don't expect it's ready for making transistors

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Brown coloration does not come from impurities
Most of the purest diamonds - type II - are brownish.

 

[elmo]

Yep, I thought brown was from deformations in the crystal lattice. It's why HPHT tends to force things back into a nicely uniform structure and improve color, isn't it, 'uniform' being the thing I said right after 'pure'

. But I really wish someone who specializes in semiconductor fabrication could comment. Maybe the brownies would still make super-Pentiums

, I dunno.