Lab Diamonds Buying Guide - With Clarity

TERMS AND CONDITIONS:

Customers who make a purchase during the offer period totalling over $1,000 will receive a 3 Stone Lab Diamond Pendant Plated in Sterling Silver (0.26 ctw, G/H color, SI clarity) or receive a Lab Diamond Oval Bracelet in Sterling Silver (0.50 ctw, G/H color, SI clarity) for a $3,000 spend. The offer will continue to run until further notice or until stock lasts. Offer cannot be applied retroactively and is not applicable on orders that are in processing or have shipped. The offer cannot be combined with any other offer, discount, or promotion code. Any free gift sent with purchase, must be returned if an order is being returned and will not be replaced if misplaced, lost or stolen. In the event that the customer returns their purchase and does not return the free gift with their order, they will be refunded the total value of the order minus value of the free gift. Free gift is limited to one per customer/shipping address. Free gifts cannot be returned or exchanged for their cash value or any other merchandise on site. The offer terms are subject to change at any time without prior notice. Other restrictions may apply.

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Lab-created diamonds have an undeserved stigma. However, they make excellent, lower-cost alternatives to natural, mined diamonds. In this article, we'll debunk some widespread myths about lab-created diamonds, take a look at lab diamond prices and offer some advice for buying lab-grown diamond jewelry.

Lab-Created Diamonds vs Mined Diamonds

Lab-created diamonds (also called "lab-grown diamonds" or synthetic diamonds) have the same optical, physical, and chemical properties as their mined counterparts. The only significant difference between a lab-created and mined (or "natural") diamond is that one forms in a controlled environment in a laboratory, and the other forms over time in the uncontrolled environment of the Earth. Both lab-created and natural diamonds are real diamonds.

Note that diamond simulants, such as cubic zirconia and moissanite, differ from both lab-created and mined diamonds. These gem materials have different properties than diamonds. Though they may resemble or "simulate" the appearance of diamonds, they are not diamonds.

Lab-Created Diamonds: An Analogy

"Get That Ice or Else No Dice"

To understand what's the same and what's different between a lab-grown gem and a natural gem, think of ice. You can create ice in your freezer or scrape some off your driveway (in the winter). Both pieces would constitute real ice. Both consist of frozen water. However, cutting a chunk of ice off your driveway takes some time and physical effort. Ice is ice, but you may still want to take some extra time to find a piece you'd like to put in your drink. Not to mention you'd have to wait until winter. In contrast, your freezer generates excellent, uniform pieces of ice all year round (probably), although it costs money to run your freezer. Freezer ice is also (hopefully) a lot cleaner than driveway ice, and you'll spend less time and effort getting it.

The same holds true for lab-created diamonds. Creating a gem-quality diamond in a laboratory is very expensive. However, that process still costs far less than mining diamonds. Did you know that the vast majority of mined diamonds don't meet gem-quality standards? While they still have the properties of diamonds, they don't meet the subjective standards for use in jewelry. (The same way most driveway ice won't meet the subjective standards for going in your drink). Thus, lab-created diamonds are less expensive than mined diamonds.

Myths About Lab-Created Diamonds

Now, let's debunk some myths.

Myth #1 - Mined Diamonds are Rare, While Lab-Created Diamonds are Common

Actually, neither mined nor lab-created diamonds are rare. Diamond rarity is one of the most pervasive myths about gemstones in general. If you want to buy a rare gem, don't buy a diamond at all. However, if you insist, look for extremely rare (and expensive) mined diamonds over 5 carats or very large natural fancy colored diamonds, such as blues or pinks.

Myth #2 - Mined Diamonds Hold Their Value, Unlike Lab-Created Diamonds

It's true that the market for lab-created diamonds is newer, smaller, and, therefore, less "liquid" than the secondary market for mined diamonds. As a result, selling a lab-grown diamond may prove harder than selling a mined diamond. However, mined diamonds aren't a good store of value either! Ask anyone who has ever tried to sell a diamond if they were happy with the price they got. Diamonds don't make good investment purchases, since their markup is usually very low.

If you're buying a diamond, mined or lab-grown, with the intention of reselling it, you may want to rethink what you're doing for a whole host of reasons.