Find your diamond
Find your jewelry
shape
carat
color
clarity

Did I buy a lab grown ring?

nala

nala

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Oct 23, 2011
Messages
7,346
So if you read my posts, you all know that I love me a good pawn shop find. Today I purchased this ring guard, sold to me as 14k natural diamonds. Because I frequent this shop regularly and have for years, I really let my guard down, no pun intended.
Ok. So I bring it home and finally loupe it and look at the stamps inside!
First, can LOL really stand for anything other than laugh out loud? Second. LG. Does that imply lab grown. I have been doing a reverse search and cannot find this ring! IMG_8402.jpeg
 

Attachments

  • IMG_8412.jpeg
    IMG_8412.jpeg
    162.8 KB · Views: 42
nala said:
So if you read my posts, you all know that I love me a good pawn shop find. Today I purchased this ring guard, sold to me as 14k natural diamonds. Because I frequent this shop regularly and have for years, I really let my guard down, no pun intended.
Ok. So I bring it home and finally loupe it and look at the stamps inside!
First, can LOL really stand for anything other than laugh out loud? Second. LG. Does that imply lab grown. I have been doing a reverse search and cannot find this ring! IMG_8402.jpeg
Click to expand...

Did you check if any glow under uv? Pretty ring. Love pawn shops too!
 
That is not a good sign. I was hoping the LG was someone’s initials.
 
MMtwo said:
That is not a good sign. I was hoping the LG was someone’s initials.
Click to expand...

Agree. I am torn bc like I said, I cannot find this ring anywhere. I know that the pawn owner will test it for me and if it is lab, I will get a refund. I just don’t know if I should keep it if it is a lab. Most small lab or natural diamonds are priced relatively close.
 
lol = lots of love
14k gold
LG likely makers mark. I have seen it use as a makers mark for years. before lab was a thing.
Check for UV reaction
Odds are strong they are mined.

What pawn shop does not have a lab/mined diamond tester these days???
 
Karl_K said:
lol = lots of love
14k gold
LG likely makers mark. I have seen it use as a makers mark for years. before lab was a thing.
Check for UV reaction
Odds are strong they are mined.

What pawn shop does not have a lab/mined diamond tester these days???
Click to expand...

I think they do. I just forgot to ask bc I let my guard down.
 
nala said:
I think they do. I just forgot to ask bc I let my guard down.
Click to expand...

ah been there...if you go back and have them test it pls post the results.
I like a little salt on my eggs if im wrong above.lol
 
When I ordered a labgrown ring from Stuller it was stamped LG.
 
diamondyes said:
Sorry to say! But I love your ring/ it is beautiful.
Click to expand...

Aww! No apologies! Tbh. I am really torn over how to proceed if it is lab grown bc I am quite smitten!
 
If you do find out it is lab and it is not mind clean for you...I bet this would go quickly on LT.
 
nala said:
No fluorescence. Sigh.
Click to expand...

What kind of UV light do you have?

If I was using my old one for this purpose, I’d miss out on some naturals.

The new one - no chance of missing naturals, as the difference is stark.
 
Rfisher said:
What kind of UV light do you have?

If I was using my old one for this purpose, I’d miss out on some naturals.

The new one - no chance of missing naturals, as the difference is stark.
Click to expand...

Which is that @Rfisher? I just use one of those UV flashlights. Would like to know what you use.

Keeping fingers crossed Nala!
 
Bron357 said:
I’d keep it, the money is in the setting work more so than the diamonds, if they are lab, just ask for a bit of a discount.
Click to expand...

This, because it is very pretty!
 
Mreader said:
Which is that @Rfisher? I just use one of those UV flashlights. Would like to know what you use.

Keeping fingers crossed Nala!
Click to expand...
This is what I had for years - perfectly fine to ooh and ahh on some fluorescent stones (and dog piddles on carpet :( )
IMG_5529.jpeg
Until lilalex recommended this one
L

Thread 'A great little UV light!'

I have always used a cheap little UV penlight that I got from Esslinger whenever I want to check for fluorescence in a colored stone. But I started reading a bit more and learned that the cheap ones are mostly ~ 395nm with tons of spillover into visible (violet) light. That's what mine was -- looked like a tiny, old-school "blacklight." There are much better ones that are mostly 365nm with a cutoff filter that eliminates almost all visible light. (Note that both 365nm and 395nm are "long wave" UV and the only thing I was interested in.)

So, based on lots of positive reviews on Amazon --...
  • Like
  • Love
  • Haha

And here’s the difference
This photo is with the original torch - the bottom two rings act identical (no reaction at all) under the light.
IMG_5587.jpeg
This photo is with the better torch - showing marked difference. No reaction at all for the lab stones.
IMG_5586.jpeg
Top two rings are natural, bottom ring is lab.
 
Rfisher said:
This is what I had for years - perfectly fine to ooh and ahh on some fluorescent stones (and dog piddles on carpet :( )
IMG_5529.jpeg
Until lilalex recommended this one
L

Thread 'A great little UV light!'

I have always used a cheap little UV penlight that I got from Esslinger whenever I want to check for fluorescence in a colored stone. But I started reading a bit more and learned that the cheap ones are mostly ~ 395nm with tons of spillover into visible (violet) light. That's what mine was -- looked like a tiny, old-school "blacklight." There are much better ones that are mostly 365nm with a cutoff filter that eliminates almost all visible light. (Note that both 365nm and 395nm are "long wave" UV and the only thing I was interested in.)

So, based on lots of positive reviews on Amazon --...
  • Like
  • Love
  • Haha

And here’s the difference
This photo is with the original torch - the bottom two rings act identical (no reaction at all) under the light.
IMG_5587.jpeg
This photo is with the better torch - showing marked difference. No reaction at all for the lab stones.
IMG_5586.jpeg
Top two rings are natural, bottom ring is lab.
Click to expand...

OK, this is awesome and I just bought one ha ha
 
Can someone please explain to me. If the diamonds are natural, they will have flourescence? But most diamonds don’t have flourescence, so how can you be sure?

Alternate to UV tester, What does a “lab diamond tester” test for, to determine if it’s lab? TIA
 
LightBright said:
Can someone please explain to me. If the diamonds are natural, they will have flourescence? But most diamonds don’t have flourescence, so how can you be sure?

Alternate to UV tester, What does a “lab diamond tester” test for, to determine if it’s lab? TIA
Click to expand...

Since a third-ish of natural diamonds have fluorescence but basically no colorless lab diamonds do, a natural diamond ring like this will almost certainly have at least one that fluoresces. It doesn't work for testing a single diamond but does work for a completed piece.

No clue on the second question, though!
 
LightBright said:
Can someone please explain to me. If the diamonds are natural, they will have flourescence? But most diamonds don’t have flourescence, so how can you be sure?

Alternate to UV tester, What does a “lab diamond tester” test for, to determine if it’s lab? TIA
Click to expand...
With the eye safe uv lights aka long wave 360nm and up its an indication not definitive.
The lab\mined testers use multiple uv wavelengths and use the responses to determine type.
The uv used is not eye safe.
 
Karl_K said:
With the eye safe uv lights aka long wave 360nm and up its an indication not definitive.
The lab\mined testers use multiple uv wavelengths and use the responses to determine type.
The uv used is not eye safe.
Click to expand...

Thank you for this info. Also thanks for info on eye safety as I’ve wondered about that myself.
 
Well rats, it's a lovely ring. I can't believe they won't discount, they're missing a nice sale
 
nala said:
It is lab. I will be returning it bc they will not reduce the price.
Click to expand...

are you comfortable sharing what their price was?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
GET 3 FREE HCA RESULTS JOIN THE FORUM. ASK FOR HELP
Jewelry Blog
PriceScope-Concierge-Ad
Find prime cuts.
Top