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Opinion on Lab Created Diamonds

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Nikksyny

Rough_Rock
Joined
Sep 11, 2021
Messages
41
Hi,

Would love some opinions from people who have natural and lab created. Can you tell the difference between the two? Or does the lab created look "fake" in some way? Or look like cz or moissanite rather than more like a natural diamond?

Thanks for any feedback!
 
Hi!

Not at all. My lab diamond and my earth mined diamonds are indistinguishable. Absolutely identical in terms of light performance and overall look. :)
 
2595F10D-ADB0-423C-BDF4-D035EED96240.jpeg

FD323C4B-5732-4B2E-A088-BC4C22094D10.jpeg

One of these is lab diamond and the other is earth mined. :) which is which? I wouldn’t know if I didn’t have my lap reports!
 
They look the same because chemically they are the same. The only way to potentially tell the difference is the presence of "growth lines" which most lab diamonds dont have anyway (but some do, so worth checking for that)
 
Thanks. What's a good place on-line for lab grown?
 
For me, the only difference is between the ears. I have both. Not sure what I was expecting but they are all beautiful and indistinguishable. They are all diamond. All about the clarity and cut and color.
 
Nikksyny said:
Thanks. What's a good place on-line for lab grown?
Click to expand...

Distinctive Gem (Jon), or Diamonds By Lauren (David). I would trust either of them blindly to pick something with good light performance within budget.

For my lab diamond above, I emailed Jon and told him what color and size I wanted and he hand picked about 5-10 for me to choose from. I chose the one above :)
 
When I went shopping for my wife's 15 year anniversary upgrade, I looked at a LOT of natural grown and lab grown diamonds, many side-by-side.
Zero difference in appearance.
Because of that, it made the choice easy: get a heck of a lot more 4Cs bang for the buck by selecting an LGD (thankfully, my wife is totally open to LGDs).
You can visit the links in my signature to see it, as well as peruse all the other wonderful LGDs in those threads.
If you'd like help finding some excellent LGD candidates based on your budget and desires, then feel free to create a new thread:

Lab-Grown Diamonds/Man-Made Diamonds (MMD)

Learn about and discuss everything on lab-grown diamonds here! No simulants (CZ, Moissanite, YAG, etc), please.
www.pricescope.com
 
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They may have different types of inclusions due to the way they are produced, but as lovedogs stated, they are chemically identical to mined diamonds. Also, from my understanding colorless lab diamonds will not have florescence, whereas mined may.

An eye-clean mined and lab diamond with the same color, clarity, and cut should look indistinguishable to the naked eye.
 
I have both Natural and Lab grown diamonds. I wear them mixed together. No difference at all visually. In fact, I have them on the same ring! My 3-stone has natural diamond center and lab diamond sides. Worn with my natural diamond band.

96963237-9E8D-400C-8549-0F26B316542D.jpeg
 
Sprinkles&Stones said:
Distinctive Gem (Jon), or Diamonds By Lauren (David). I would trust either of them blindly to pick something with good light performance within budget.

For my lab diamond above, I emailed Jon and told him what color and size I wanted and he hand picked about 5-10 for me to choose from. I chose the one above :)
Click to expand...

Thanks, who are Jon and David? Do they work for those companies? Thank you!
 
Nikksyny said:
Thanks, who are Jon and David? Do they work for those companies? Thank you!
Click to expand...

They own those companies and are very active here, each offering help, advice, and decades of knowledge.
 
The timing of your post is so funny because i was just reading up on this topic this morning! I have read conflicting things about it... but at the end of the day it's absolutely the same composition as a diamond, unlike the synthetic stones that some people can tell with the naked eye, not the case with lab diamonds because they're diamonds.

I think i have to agree with MMTwo, it's really just your mindset. I am someone who likes change and is NOT sentimental, I KNOW me, i might think my next ring will finally be "the one" - the forever ring... but knowing me ... it's possible i'll change it down the line. So for ME, the ONLY downside would be resale, the lab diamonds tend to have lower resale from what i read. So if you plan on buying it forever, and you're sentimental and know you'll never let it go, then heck yeah, get lab!! If you're like me and think you might want to sell down the line then you may be better with earth mined.
 
I'm very interested in getting a larger lab Asscher.

But my experiences via the pics I've seen in a specific SM group where lots of members get labs is: Blue nuance is very visible in their pics and videos.

Those growth/graining lines scare me as well. I saved a pic of a larger VVS stone that was hazy. It did not have fluorescence but it did have those lines when I zoomed in.
I would love to post them here but I don't think the owners would appreciate it.

My preference is HPHT with no post growth treatment and no Blue nuance in something around 2 carats, but I don't trust myself to get a good stone.
 
elle_chris said:
I'm very interested in getting a larger lab Asscher.

But my experiences via the pics I've seen in a specific SM group where lots of members get labs is: Blue nuance is very visible in their pics and videos.

Those growth/graining lines scare me as well. I saved a pic of a larger VVS stone that was hazy. It did not have fluorescence but it did have those lines when I zoomed in.
I would love to post them here but I don't think the owners would appreciate it.

My preference is HPHT with no post growth treatment and no Blue nuance in something around 2 carats, but I don't trust myself to get a good stone.
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I just received my 2.6 carat Emerald Lab Diamond (VS1, H color, CVD type II, IGI cert) and it has absolutely no blue nuance, and no visible stria in the graining (not sure if I'm saying that right). Not an asscher obviously but a similar cut and characteristics. Attaching a photo as reference if it's helpful to you.ring.jpg
 
EClove said:
I just received my 2.6 carat Emerald Lab Diamond (VS1, H color, CVD type II, IGI cert) and it has absolutely no blue nuance, and no visible stria in the graining (not sure if I'm saying that right). Not an asscher obviously but a similar cut and characteristics. Attaching a photo as reference if it's helpful to you.ring.jpg
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Oooo do you have a thread on this beauty? I would love to know where you got it!
 
Sprinkles&Stones said:
Oooo do you have a thread on this beauty? I would love to know where you got it!
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I do! I have only started 2 threads and they are both about my experience with the ring - let me know if you can't find it my clicking on my profile. I don't want to hijack this thread! Feel free to respond on one of those threads if you want any more info.
 
The only difference is that lab-created diamonds have no resealable value. If purchasing for someone else, make sure they are ok with lab diamonds.
 
daisygrl said:
The only difference is that lab-created diamonds have no resealable value. If purchasing for someone else, make sure they are ok with lab diamonds.
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Frankly if its a gift I don’t expect the person receiving the gift to have an interest in resale value. After all….it is a gift.
 
HurtinAlbertan said:
Frankly if its a gift I don’t expect the person receiving the gift to have an interest in resale value. After all….it is a gift.
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I think @daisygrl was making two different points:
1. There's no real resale value.
2. Make sure the person you're getting it for is fine with lab diamonds.
 
EClove said:
I just received my 2.6 carat Emerald Lab Diamond (VS1, H color, CVD type II, IGI cert) and it has absolutely no blue nuance, and no visible stria in the graining (not sure if I'm saying that right). Not an asscher obviously but a similar cut and characteristics. Attaching a photo as reference if it's helpful to you.ring.jpg
Click to expand...

Beautiful ring!
 
HurtinAlbertan said:
Frankly if its a gift I don’t expect the person receiving the gift to have an interest in resale value. After all….it is a gift.
Click to expand...

I was making two different points because you asked for opinions.
1. Resale value is non existent for lab-created diamonds.
2. Make sure a receiver is ok with lab-created diamonds - and that they understand what they are receiving is not a mined stone.
 
I am so curious to see if a second hand market develops for high end LGs…

Examples
distinctive gem is offering a trade in policy on their LGs, which I don’t suspect they would do unless they believed in a resale market.
Similarly, we are seeing folks like Yoram cut LGs, and it is hard for me to believe that there would not be a resale market for work of that quality
 
HurtinAlbertan said:
Frankly if its a gift I don’t expect the person receiving the gift to have an interest in resale value. After all….it is a gift.
Click to expand...

IMHO, it depends on the recipient and the nature of the gift.

There are stories about recipients of lab/MMD rings throwing hissy fits when they found out the diamonds in their rings gifted to them by the SO/DH/whatever are not real/earth-mined diamonds, and they felt cheated.

Transparency is a good thing IMHO.

DK :))
 
I have both and mixed both for my daily wearing. Cant tell them apart at all.
 
Thanks all for your advice! I'm actually looking to replace the man-made diamond in my engagement ring. We got it 15 years ago and were uneducated about diamonds. I always wondered why it looked small for a 1.50 round and why it barely sparkled. Now I know, but can't afford another man-made around that size with an excellent cut. So its a present for me :-)
 
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