Asha, forever brilliant, Amora, mossinite?

[pricescopenewbie]

could anyone explain to me the difference between these 4? are they just different brands of lab grown diamond?

have anyone seen/owned them in person? how would they compare to real diamond?

and some of them are enhanced. good or bad?

any good website to buy good quality lab grown diamond?

thanks thanks thanks!

 

[Ella]

Hello,

We only allow discussion of lab grown diamonds on this forum, which none of these are. They are all some kind of simulant or other type of lab grown gem, but not actually diamond.

I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

 

[AGBF]

Never mind.

 

[ElizabethR]

I'm confused, if they are not lab-grown diamonds how can they be marketed as such?

 

[ChristineRose]

None of the brands named are marketed as lab diamonds, except possibly for resellers on sites like eBay. It's worth noting that many (if not most) of the Asha, Forever Brilliant, Amora, and Moissinite on eBay are counterfeits as well.

The vast majority of what is sold as lab diamonds is $10 cubic zirconias. Lab diamonds are priced comparable to or slightly less than mined diamonds. The exception is colored diamonds, which are far, far less expensive than mined colored diamonds.

Although a too low price is a dead giveaway that you have a fake, there unfortunately are people selling the cheap stuff at a lab diamond price. No one tries to pass off the high end simlulants like Asha as lab diamonds. There's no need; if you can't tell an Asha from a diamond you can't tell a dirt cheap CZ either. Even experts can't tell under typical viewing circumstances.

The reason they can market CZ is that no one with enough clout cares enough to go after them.

 

[denverappraiser]

I'm confused, if they are not lab-grown diamonds how can they be marketed as such?

That's a question for the FTC. Mostly the fakers use words like 'simulant' and the like in their advertising, which sort of clears them, but I"m a little surprised not to have heard of a case about this whole issue. I recently saw an ad for gussied up CZ that included the word 'diamond' 40 times in the text without including the word 'zirconia' even once. I agree, it's very deceptive.

Yes, there are plenty of people selling real lab grown diamonds online. It's against the rules for trade people to give names and it would be a conflict of interest for me as an appraiser to give you a list anyway but there are, for example, at least one or two that are participating in this forum. Just read through some of the old discussion threads. You may find other interesting things too. You can tell what company they're with by the signature block that appears at the foot of every post.

 

[ElizabethR]

So glad I spotted these posts, I was about to spend around $500 for a cz ring with the same fire as diamonds! Thank you both for the education.

 

[ChristineRose]

I am not trade, so I can answer a few questions for you.

The leader (by far) is Brilliant Earth, formerly known as Gemesis. These are what you see at Sam's Club. They are graded by IGI and hence not easy to evaluate. IGI grades inconsistently and lesser retailers like mall jewelers take advantage of this to convince buyers that they are saving money by buying a misgraded gem. Many stores resell Brilliant Earth, and if you can find a dealer you trust, this may be a good option.

D.NEA sells diamonds and Eric at D.NEA follows this forum.

Good Old Gold is one of the major vendors on this forum, and they have (or used to have) a handful of their branded signature cuts in lab diamonds. These are no longer on the site so you'd have to contact them. These stones are utterly luscious and their personal assessment is better than an IGI certificate, but price is not one of their selling points.

Better Than Diamond is one of the leaders in the high-end CZ market, and they sell Takara lab diamonds. The selection is small. I'm not even sure they have a selection, as I don't think they are updating their website.

Chatham is the top name in synthetic gems (emeralds, rubies, etc.) They grow diamonds but they are really hard to find for sale anywhere. They have a list of retailers on their site but I suspect they are mostly selling the gemstones. Again, you are back to finding a trusted dealer who will order them for you and evaluate them.

There's a new company called Diamond Foundry which has backing from Leonardo DiCaprio who starred in the movie Blood Diamonds. Their selling point is environmental value. They are not sold widely, and they certify their own diamonds. People are pretty cautious about them given their approach to selling their stones.

Many companies that grow industrial diamonds have the capacity to grow gems, and occasionally they try it out. They pop up in odd places like e-Bay and are all but impossible to evaluate.

One avenue I cannot recommend is the "memorial diamonds" scam, where they sell you an overpriced diamond and tell you it came from a lock of hair. Diamonds are pure carbon, and do not contain DNA or anything else distinctly human (that episode of CSI not withstanding). Further the carbon in hair is mixed with too much other stuff to be made into a diamond, and honest growers who have tried it have ended up with an ugly mess.

I don't claim to be an expert on any of this, but these are all the ones I know of, and I know an awful lot for a curious amateur. As I've said, the legitimate jewelry industry has not embraced synthetics and most information out their is either fraudsters lying about their junk, or jewelers lying about their perceived competition.

 

[ChristineRose]

One more I forgot--Scio Diamonds, which used to be Apollo diamonds, and was known for hyperbolic press releases and swings in stock price from astronomical to bankruptcy. They have broken many promises to create masses of cheap quality diamonds, but do have a few for sale on their website, Renaissance Diamonds. The corporate website has a lot of hype, but doesn't list any resellers except their own store.

By the way, if I were actually looking for one of these guys, I'd go with Good Old Gold if I wanted a branded super ideal, and D.NEA for anything else, including colored. Colored synthetics are cheaper than white, and colored mined are insanely expensive.

 

[ElizabethR]

Thanks Christine, you know a whole lot more about all this than I do. So, I really appreciate you sharing what you do know.