The technology to manufacture lab-created diamonds that are identical in composition – so indistinguishable from natural diamonds - is here to stay. A Russian company, New Diamond Technologies, has produced the largest verified lab-created diamond – a high-quality 10 Ct stone. New Diamond Technologies claims that it can produce 15 Ct and 20 Ct polished stones, that they have produced a 70 Ct piece of lab-grown diamond rough, and suggest that 100 Ct lab-grown may be coming soon.
The company says that the bigger diamonds are “really individual” as with comparable naturals. The cost of the technology to produce these stones is enormous, so the cost to the consumer is still very high – 80%-90% of the price of comparable natural diamonds. To put that in perspective, a high quality 10 Ct natural diamond (E Color and VVS2 clarity) would cost around $1,000,000 and $1,300,000. This lab-created stone would still cost around $800,000 to $1,170,000.
The company’s “bread and butter” 1 Ct to 3 Ct stones are sold through companies in Europe, Hong Kong, and the US, but the company does not disclose the names of the companies selling their stones. They say that the stones are all “fully disclosed” with IGI lab reports, meaning that companies selling the stones tell their customers that they are lab-created and provide reports confirming the stone's origin.
This is highly likely to be a game changer in the diamond industry. Only 2% of the natural diamonds currently mined are as high quality as these lab-created stones. So is this a good thing or a bad thing? It depends on how you look at it.
This could be a positive thing for the environment since diamond mining is typically a very destructive process – it is finding a needle in a haystack process that often destroys the mining area. It could be a positive thing from a humanitarian perspective since the lust for diamonds can result in atrocious working conditions for miners – Have you ever seen the movie “Blood Diamond”? As for price, as technology evolves, the supply of these lab-created diamonds will increase, and the cost of production will decrease. This makes it possible that owning a 10 Ct lab-created diamond might become commonplace.
On the negative side, it leaves the door wide open for deception, promises to devalue the natural diamond market, and creates a challenge for buyers – how can you be sure that you know exactly what you’re buying; natural or lab-created?
At K. Hollis Jewelers, we only deal with suppliers that we know and trust and that provide certificates for their lab-grown diamonds and laser inscribed on the stone’s girdle, clearly identifying the stone as a lab-grown diamond. We have also invested in a high-end diamond tester that can distinguish between a mined diamond and a lab-grown diamond.
The key is to know precisely what you are buying – then the decision is yours. A lab-created diamond has quite a few advantages over a mined diamond, but it’s just a choice. The real problem is that not everyone out there is as honest as they should be, and with new technology, it is getting more difficult to distinguish natural from lab-created. This creates a greater opportunity for the thieves of this world to deceive buyers. The risk is multiplied on the internet, where customers typically buy from “faceless” companies that could be located anywhere.
This is a classic “buyer beware” thing. Not that I’m the most objective guy out there since we own a jewelry store, but trustworthy local jewelers live and die on their reputation, so they provide an extra layer of protection for their customers.