GIA to grade Labs Pass /Fail... 4 C's for Naturals only.

[Chelsea Palmer]

Labs can have modifiers of all types, grey and blue (I think) being the most common. Some people (including me) can find it off putting. The only time I went out in search of lab studs (to sub for mine when I travel) I realised that all the ones I was finding in the size I needed were either too white (I didn’t want DEF, I wanted them to look like my own studs) or had an “off” appearance thanks to the grey modifier. You know how in naturals they tend to look a bit creamy/yellowish, occasionally brownish as you go down the colour chart? Labs can do that with grey or blue or pink or other colours. It looks “wrong” to my eyes and I find it jarring, like I can’t unsee it.

Perhaps I just had bad luck when I went - I haven’t tried to look again. But you’ll know the grey modifier the instant you see it, imo.

Thank you for your response. I appreciate the time you took to explain. Then I guess it’s not true that lab diamonds and natural diamonds can only be told apart with special equipment. I’ve not had occasion to view a whole lot of diamonds in real life. I’ve seen on the color charts how diamonds very in color, but never in real life. My mined diamond solitaire is G color and my lab solitaire is D. I think my mined tennis bracelet has H color diamonds. Those are the only diamonds I’ve had the pleasure of seeing in real life.

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

Thank you for your response. I appreciate the time you took to explain. Then I guess it’s not true that lab diamonds and natural diamonds can only be told apart with special equipment. I’ve not had occasion to view a whole lot of diamonds in real life. I’ve seen on the color charts how diamonds very in color, but never in real life. My mined diamond solitaire is G color and my lab solitaire is D. I think my mined tennis bracelet has H color diamonds. Those are the only diamonds I’ve had the pleasure of seeing in real life.

I think it’s not true for every diamond, but I’m sure there are many labs that are indistinguishable from naturals to the naked eye. I will say the differences are subtle but once you see it you can’t unsee it lol.

You actually wouldn’t be able to see anything in a D colour I think, except maybe some slight blurriness/haziness because of striations if they are present in the stone (I think CVD grown stones are prone to it, but not all have it). I would think that a D colour diamond would not have any tint or whatever since that’s a colour and D is supposed to be the absence of colour. So your D is probably a lovely stone and doesn’t have any of these possible “issues” that can crop up in labs.

All these differences are subtle enough that I think you would find it v difficult to spot on another person, but on yourself I think if it was there you would see it.

I do wonder how difficult it is for the experts to tell labs apart from naturals without the specialised equipment, with just a loupe and careful examination for example. I’ve seen my jeweller do it in front of me (he examines all jewellery before intake) - he looked at a customer’s ring given for repair and asked her if it was a lab after looking it over for a minute or so, and she confirmed it was.

 

[Chelsea Palmer]

I think it’s not true for every diamond, but I’m sure there are many labs that are indistinguishable from naturals to the naked eye. I will say the differences are subtle but once you see it you can’t unsee it lol.

You actually wouldn’t be able to see anything in a D colour I think, except maybe some slight blurriness/haziness because of striations if they are present in the stone (I think CVD grown stones are prone to it, but not all have it). I would think that a D colour diamond would not have any tint or whatever since that’s a colour and D is supposed to be the absence of colour. So your D is probably a lovely stone and doesn’t have any of these possible “issues” that can crop up in labs.

All these differences are subtle enough that I think you would find it v difficult to spot on another person, but on yourself I think if it was there you would see it.

I do wonder how difficult it is for the experts to tell labs apart from naturals without the specialised equipment, with just a loupe and careful examination for example. I’ve seen my jeweller do it in front of me (he examines all jewellery before intake) - he looked at a customer’s ring given for repair and asked her if it was a lab after looking it over for a minute or so, and she confirmed it was.

It’s my understanding that if an examines a diamond through a loupe and there are no inclusions, jeweler would generally assume it is a lab-grown diamond. I am no expert whatsoever, but my guess is that since a, say, D color 1.5-2-carat diamond with excellent quality and AGS triple zero or close to it would cost probably a minimum of $40,000, and most average folk are not walking around with $40,000 diamonds on their finger, a jeweler would assume a stone with those qualities was created in a lab. Sounds logical to me.

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

It’s my understanding that if an examines a diamond through a loupe and there are no inclusions, jeweler would generally assume it is a lab-grown diamond. I am no expert whatsoever, but my guess is that since a, say, D color 1.5-2-carat diamond with excellent quality and AGS triple zero or close to it would cost probably a minimum of $40,000, and most average folk are not walking around with $40,000 diamonds on their finger, a jeweler would assume a stone with those qualities was created in a lab. Sounds logical to me.

No I asked him afterwards and he said he can tell by looking at the stone itself in many cases (I think he looks for things like striations or off tints but maybe he looks for high clarity). He said that if he isn’t sure he runs it through the machine in the back, but if it’s obvious to him he asks the customer. Though he rarely gets labs in from his customers (India jewellery market operates quite differently to the US).