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Independent jewelry appraiser Neil Beaty outlines the costs of synthetic diamonds in this new Pricescope Journal article:
Why Aren’t Synthetic Diamonds Cheaper?
Thanks, Neil!
Why Aren’t Synthetic Diamonds Cheaper?
I get questions about this often and thought I would present something of an answer. Simulants are a different thing, and most of them ARE pretty cheap, but colorless and near-colorless lab-grown diamonds are pretty close to the prices of their natural counterparts. This often comes as a surprise, because people have seen or read things to the contrary, and because the whole synthetic gemstone business has precedents. Synthetic sapphire and ruby have been on the market for over a century and in most cases are very inexpensive. Synthetic emeralds are lovely, reasonably priced, and have been around for decades. Synthetic versions of spinel, amethyst, chrysoberyl and many other gemstones are plentiful and inexpensive. When lab wizards figure out how to make a stone in the lab, it is usually extremely high quality, as large as you want, and a fraction of the cost of the natural equivalent. Why are diamonds so different?
Thanks, Neil!