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Jason, Ada Diamonds — ? For You

Batgirl76

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Aug 7, 2018
Messages
252
Jason, I see you’ve posted a lot lately, so I thought I would ask...Why is it so hard to find lab grown baguettes? I’d like to make an all-baguette ring, but no one seems to have them yet. At least not in any substantial quantity. Do you see this situation changing in the near future? And when it does, which manufacturing process would be better for this shape diamond In d-e-f color? Thanks.
 

Ada Diamonds CEO

Rough_Rock
Trade
Joined
Jan 8, 2020
Messages
85
Ideally, what size baguettes you seeking, and do you know the quantity?

Short answer is that calibrated layouts of fancy shaped lab diamonds are slowly coming online. We've been looking for years and finally gave up and have started to bulk commission/purchase layouts we need. We've delivered an increasing amount of both straight and tapered baguettes, but mostly matched pairs for side stones, not layouts.

A few intertwined reasons:
  • Most lab diamonds grown today are fairly square/symmetric in shape, and rough crystals that are suitable for elongated shapes are fairly uncommon.
  • CVD crystals get polycrystalline diamond encroachment into the crystal from the edges, so you'll prettymuch always get more weight from cut corner shapes than rectangular shapes.
  • No reliable market for layouts means you, the cutter in Asia, cut whatever makes you the most money, not what matches.
  • Baguettes are probably the most difficult to match in terms of light performance with much larger facets than say radiants or Asschers.
  • For me to deliver a layout to @Batgirl76, that I'd stake my reputation on, I might need to commission with 3-4x more stones than you need to get a unified match, and those stones may be on my books for a long time.
  • ~150 million carats of diamond were mined out of the earth in 2019, joining a ~6 billion other carats already mined. So the total quantity of mined diamonds to match into layouts of baguettes is far, far larger than lab diamonds on the market
  • Frankly, there's a lot of "eeeeeeeeh it's close enough, ship it" mentality in diamonds where an order of say 3.5mm x 1.5mm +- 0.05mm somehow turns into 3.2 to 3.7mm tolerances when the parcel arrives....
One interesting caveat - some CVD growers regularly cut baguettes out of the scrap of the cube-shaped rough of CVD, after the main diamond is cut. That's why you see a decent amount of baguette jewelry from places like Vrai, but it's not going to be the DEF you're seeking.

Hope that helps!
 

Batgirl76

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Aug 7, 2018
Messages
252
Thanks Jason. I wanted to recreate the classic design below, so two tapered lab baguettes and one straight. Probably less than .75 carats total:


Pretty simple, not a lot of stones, but now I understand why it’s been so difficult to find them! Thanks for your thorough explanation.

I guess I will just continue my hunt for a truly vintage ring for now.
 

Ada Diamonds CEO

Rough_Rock
Trade
Joined
Jan 8, 2020
Messages
85
Ah, delivering a matched pair of tapered and a single similar sized straight baguette is far easier than delivering 20, 30, or 40 calibrated baguettes. Likely, the stone will still need to be commissioned (with the resulting price premium).

Are you looking for loose stones to be set by yourself/your trusted jeweler? If the latter, does the jeweler have relationships with the lab diamond wholesalers that focus on melee? There are a few in the US.
 
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