Lab grown vs natural diamonds

[97prizm]

Say you're buying a favourite vintage sports car. You could buy an original one in great shape for $125,000 or a perfect copy for $25,000 (maybe even better than they were new). Which one would you buy? I'd buy the copy and drive it like it was meant to be driven and park it anywhere.

As for diamonds, I'd buy a very large lab grown (real) diamond. My theory is that a large diamond ring/broach/whatever has less value tied up in the setting. A small diamond has a lot in the setting.

The problem is that by law automotive kit copies are only allowed to be 70-75% the same as the real version. Now granted there are some really convincing automotive kits out there. Tyler Hoover's Countach kit car is fairly close, except for when it runs as there is no mistaking the V-12 from a Countach with its distinct rumble.

 

[Glenda W.]

Cubic zirconia is a different chemical compound, ZrO2. It exhibits very similar optical and physical properties as diamonds, but it is not the same and can easily be detected by an expert. It’s lot as hard (8.5 vs 10 on Moh’s scale), and it’s 1.7x heavier.

By contrast, lab created diamonds are just that - literal diamonds. They’re 100% carbon and almost indistinguishable from natural diamonds. It’s possible to do so using XRF and optical methods to detect nitrogen and inclusions, both of which lab diamonds lack.

No, they’re not.

Cubic Zirconia is a different material - zirconium dioxide, grown into crystal.

Lab grown diamond is made of pure carbon, under heat and pressure, just like a real diamond.

So, not even close.

From my days hanging around the jewelery exchange in NYC, I'd have to disagree with your assessment. CZ and man made (lab made) diamonds are quite different from each other in their chemical properties, color, and how they're made. I couldn't give you all the details, but that's one of the things I remember Sam Godolowitz told me. He worked at Fantasy Diamonds on 47th Street.

Sorry guys. I was unaware of another man made diamond option. My bad.

 

[Glenda W.]

There are also white sapphires and white topaz and moissanite which oddly enough are better than natural/lab diamonds in most aspects except hardness thought not far off since it's 9-9.5 mohs I believe. They have more sparkle or "fire" and are almost as hard and still last forever. White sapphires and white topaz are rather dull. My wife got herself these really lovely earrings which had both a lab diamond and moissanite and we agreed the moissanite was better than the diamond and they were both the same clarity/whiteness. Not like the diamond was yellow at all it just has a better sparkle.

Learn something new everyday! Thanks

 

[Fitter30]

Also known as Cubic Zirconia. It’s a flawless man made diamond(that’s how jewelers know it’s fake). Downside is durability as they can get scratched and appear cloudy.

No they aren't
https://www.google.com/url?q=https:...cQFnoECAgQBg&usg=AOvVaw2LgPi-AcnoGM0M1MQFV9vp

 

[Fitter30]

Can see the gold or platinum setting would rise in valve but the lab diamond not so much compared to a real one. Unless the real market would turn upside down.

 

[JRHAWK9]

Also known as Cubic Zirconia. It’s a flawless man made diamond(that’s how jewelers know it’s fake). Downside is durability as they can get scratched and appear cloudy.

Please educate yourself before spewing nonsense. Lab created diamonds are identical to the overpriced natural ones. The only way to tell them apart is to test for the presence of nitrogen, which natural ones have while lab created ones don't.

https://www.nathanalanjewelers.com/lab-diamonds-vs-natural-diamonds

 

[JRHAWK9]

Ask the wife on what she wants to do.

It used to be that the artificial diamonds had a yellowish color but that has changed in the recent past.

We are talking lab created ones, as in REAL diamonds. We are not talking artificial ones. Two COMPLETELY different things.

 

[Kestas]

How would someone tell a mined diamond from a lab grown diamond when it comes to resale?

 

[JRHAWK9]

How would someone tell a mined diamond from a lab grown diamond when it comes to resale?

Honesty of the seller....plus diamonds are not worth crap anyway on the used market.

This whole diamond thing is just a marketing thing started by DeBeers many years ago. They control the supply end of things to keep the prices high. There is nothing rare about diamonds.

https://www.straightdope.com/21343651/is-a-diamond-s-price-a-true-measure-of-its-value

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/02/have-you-ever-tried-to-sell-a-diamond/304575/

 

[Glenda W.]

Please educate yourself before spewing nonsense. Lab created diamonds are identical to the overpriced natural ones. The only way to tell them apart is to test for the presence of nitrogen, which natural ones have while lab created ones don't.

https://www.nathanalanjewelers.com/lab-diamonds-vs-natural-diamonds

Please read post #42(my apology) before acting like a tool bag…..

 

[Vil_Riker]

We are talking lab created ones, as in REAL diamonds. We are not talking artificial ones. Two COMPLETELY different things.

how are lab created diamonds natural diamonds? Wouldn't the real diamonds be the ones that are mined?

 

[Shel_B]

Sorry guys. I was unaware of another man made diamond option. My bad.

Just another learnng exerience. Now you can help the next person down the line ...

 

[JRHAWK9]

how are lab created diamonds natural diamonds? Wouldn't the real diamonds be the ones that are mined?

Lab created are not natural. Lab created are real diamonds just like naturally created mined ones are.

Just like IVF children are real children.

 

[y_p_w]

Lab created are not natural. Lab created are real diamonds just like naturally created mined ones are.

Just like IVF children are real children.

I don't believe there's any way to find out that someone was conceived via IVF (or artificial insemination) via any kind of DNA/lab test. However, there are ways to identify a lab-created diamond.

There was a time when lab-created diamonds were extremely expensive and hard to make. But these days it's relatively inexpensive.

 

[ecotourist]

Lab created are real diamonds just like naturally created mined ones are.

Just like IVF children are real children.

That analogy is brilliant.

 

[Gyro Gearloose]

I was reading, I think in the WSJ, a few weeks ago that today's matrimonially inclined couples are OK with lab grown diamonds, and even prefer them. They are just so much cheaper than natural diamonds, about 1/3 the cost, but are still diamonds. The girls can get their big rock, the couple has money left over to pay student loans, and nobody is the wiser. My daugther has commented that she doesn't care as long as it has the flash. I've read previously that the most reputable manufacturers laser inscribed their lab diamonds with a microscopic LG to indicate lab grown.

 

[Plumb Bob]

The girls can get their big rock, the couple dude has money left over to pay student loans buy HPL oil.

Sorry, I had to interject that

 

[alarmguy]

We are talking lab created ones, as in REAL diamonds. We are not talking artificial ones. Two COMPLETELY different things.

I think a more accurate description would be manufactured diamond and natural diamond.
They are both diamonds, one is manufactured and one is natural.

The industry uses the word "lab grown" to fluff over the reality that it is manufactured. Who wants to tell their friend that they have a manufactured diamond? Lab grown is a softer way to say it and makes it more plausible marketing to the public.

 

[Al]

I believe in recent years "real" diamonds have a "serial" " which identifies them as natural vs Lab Created. With out that forget it it--unless you have a trusted jeweler.

We are lucky here. My wife will only let this guy take her diamond to another room to clean it.

 

[Hall]

This whole diamond thing is just a marketing thing started by DeBeers many years ago. They control the supply end of things to keep the prices high. There is nothing rare about diamonds.

More and more people need to understand this and realize how artificial the (mined) diamond market is.

how are lab created diamonds natural diamonds? Wouldn't the real diamonds be the ones that are mined?

No one uses the term "natural". It's either a diamond (understood to be from a mine) or lab-grown.

Who wants to tell their friend that they have a manufactured diamond?

My wife doesn't hide that hers is lab-grown nor is she ashamed of it. To the contrary, she will point out that hers is 100% as "real" as ones dug out of mines by children or that no children died in obtaining them. Plus, the cost can be 1/2 what a mined diamond is. Our daughter's engagement ring is also lab-grown and she points out that it's not "a blood diamond".