Lab Grown vs Natural Diamonds: Breaking Down the Differences

With each the natural- and lab-grown-diamond markets in flux, deciding which of those valuable gems deserves a spot in your assortment can really feel like rocky terrain.

Illustrious diamond collector Elizabeth Taylor reportedly as soon as stated that “jewelry has the ability to be the one little factor that makes you are feeling distinctive.” It’s an announcement that seemingly resonates with jewellery lovers, but it surely’s particularly becoming on condition that no two diamonds are believed to be precisely the identical. Whereas Taylor was actually effectively versed on the planet of jewels, others might not understand that mined diamonds are additionally tens of millions to billions of years previous — a definite high quality that’s been valued for hundreds of years.

Nonetheless, the previous decade or so has seen an unassailable shift. All the magic and alchemy that creates diamonds throughout the earth’s mantle — the place millennia of warmth and stress flip pure carbon into the world’s hardest naturally occurring materials — can now be quickly replicated, typically in a matter of weeks, within the type of lab-grown diamonds.

“Now, we’re seeing some corporations with 80 per cent of their gross sales being in lab diamonds, when solely 5 years in the past, their enterprise was 100 per cent pure diamonds,” says Donald A. Palmieri, an NYC-based business skilled and gemologist and the founding father of Palmieri’s Market Monitor, a month-to-month commerce compendium that publishes wholesale and public sale gemstone market costs.

What’s previous is new once more

To be clear, lab diamonds have been round for fairly some time — they first materialized within the Fifties however had been largely used for scientific functions till latest years, when the consistency of their high quality dramatically elevated as their manufacturing prices concurrently decreased, a perfect mixture that left them primed for a significant growth into the buyer market.

Now, business heavy hitters, together with De Beers, Signet (which owns main manufacturers similar to Peoples and Blue Nile) and superstar jeweller and Cartier-family descendant Jean Dousset (who has designed engagement rings for the likes of Amy Adams and Paris Hilton), have invested within the stones, which, to not be confused with diamond alternate options similar to moissanites, are chemically and bodily equivalent to pure diamonds. So nobody can inform in case your newest jaw-dropping bauble is a lab diamond or a pure diamond; in reality, solely a gemological laboratory can determine them past a doubt.

“The business has actually taken a flip previously 12 months, now that the natural-diamond market has misplaced its final maintain on engagement-ring gross sales; if a shopper is completely happy to simply accept a lab diamond for his or her engagement ring, they’ll even be completely happy to purchase lab diamonds for each different piece of jewelry,” says Palmieri, who explains that it was just a few brief years in the past that the natural-diamond market noticed a uncommon upsurge — through the pandemic, when shoppers had been busily spending an sudden surplus of money on-line.

With this swell in demand, natural-diamond costs truly went up — a probably harmful growth, it seems, within the wake of the rise of available lab diamonds, that are at present promoting wholesale at a mere fraction of the value of pure diamonds. In actuality, diamonds, whereas valuable and exquisite it doesn’t matter what their value, have by no means been one of many rarest gems, and therefore their relationship with the financial mannequin of provide and demand is complicated and laborious to foretell.

To (re)promote or to not promote…

Whereas the costs of each lab and pure diamonds have skilled a file decline this yr, the latter keep their worth in a manner that lab diamonds have but to show within the secondary market — that means that it’s all the time been potential to resell them, together with on consignment or at public public sale — a market that solely continues to develop in reputation.

Simply ask followers similar to Drake and Kim K, who’ve each bought high-profile jewels at public sale, together with these gems beforehand owned by Pharrell Williams and Tupac, in Drake’s case, and by Princess Diana, in Kim Ok’s case. (Tupac’s custom-made ruby and diamond ring alone set a record-breaking value for a hip-hop artifact of almost $1,350,000.) On the flip facet, the relative newness of lab diamonds, and their altering costs, implies that a resale market might by no means materialize in fairly the identical manner.

“Traits come and go, and the market might go up and down, however items from huge historic homes similar to Van Cleef & Arpels, Cartier and Tiffany proceed to carry cachet,” says Kristin Kearney, director of Bonhams Canada. “Persons are all the time searching for these items, particularly as a result of they’re so effectively made.”

Kearney notes that really uncommon colored diamonds, similar to fancy pinks and blues, and vintage gems present in jewels from the perennially fashionable artwork deco and Edwardian durations are additionally thought of marquee items that can usually maintain and even improve in worth over time. “Shortage performs such a task in worth, particularly in relation to vintage cuts, like previous mine-cut diamonds,” she says. “They’ve an additional enchantment — an additional little sparkle that comes with a little bit of a narrative. That’s what’s going to all the time make them particular.”

Measurement might be every part

In actuality, vintage cuts or the concept of pure diamonds being an historic phenomenon might not resonate with everybody, particularly those that have their coronary heart set solely on a jaw-dropping Jennifer Lopez-worthy rock. In that vein, selecting a lab diamond with impeccable high quality for a way more aggressive value might be ideally suited for many who merely recognize the distinctive magnificence any diamond possesses — its hanging and simple fireplace, scintillation and brilliance — no matter whether or not it’s been sourced from the earth or is man-made.

In any case, lab diamonds have already grow to be a mainstay on the crimson carpet, worn by the likes of Rihanna, Billy Porter and Zendaya. Plus, for a chunk that will require a plethora of diamonds, similar to a timeless tennis necklace, extra economical lab diamonds would possibly simply match the invoice.

Diamonds being extra accessible typically is an concept that’s struck a chord with Danish model Pandora, who determined to introduce its first lab diamonds in 2021 as a manner of providing the gem to shoppers who might have by no means thought of such an expensive buy previously.

“We’re seeing a really broad curiosity in each current and brand-new shoppers,” says Mary Carmen Gasco-Buisson, chief advertising officer for Pandora, which solely selects extremely graded stones with VS readability when sourcing lab-grown diamonds. “They love having the ability to add diamonds to their assortment and even buy an even bigger diamond than they may have been in a position to earlier than. Now we will make actually high-quality jewelry accessible to everybody.”

Any diamond is ceaselessly

In case you’re finally undecided on whether or not lab or pure diamonds are for you, Kearney says step one is to contemplate your finances and outline your priorities, together with what’s going to matter most when it comes to dimension, high quality and the concept of reselling sooner or later. Then, do your analysis: Go in individual to a good seller, a jewelry retailer or an public sale home and check out issues on to contemplate the variations for your self.

“It’s so vital to buy these particular items in individual as a result of that’s finally the way you’ll get pleasure from them,” Kearney advises. “Typically once we’re on-line, there’s a lot info at our fingertips that it may be tough to wade by way of the propaganda to find out what’s what.”

For instance, take the controversial query of whether or not lab-grown diamonds are literally extra environmentally friendly than these which were mined. Whereas many are wanting to make claims for one facet or the opposite, the fact is that it’s far too early to get a transparent image or type an informed opinion on a professed ideally suited, given the dearth of well timed analysis in an business that features strict government-enforced environmental tips, moral mines, newly shaped factories working across the clock on fossil fuels and carbon-footprint consciousness in any respect ranges.

It’s value noting, nevertheless, that any piece of jewelry might be thought of one of the crucial sustainable purchases you can also make as a consequence of its imperishable nature and almost infinite recyclability. No matter a fluctuating market or long-term predictions, all jewels are ceaselessly and might be adored for not solely a lifetime but in addition many generations to return — a novel and shining high quality that provides immeasurable worth.

Get your glam on courtesy of those natural- and lab-grown-diamond showstoppers.

Pandora Period Bezel Lab-grown Diamond Stud Earrings

Jeweller: Pandora
Product particulars: 0.50 carat lab­grown diamond and 14 karat gold earrings
Value: $940

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Vrai Infinity Linked Tennis Bracelet

Jeweller: Vrai
Product particulars: 1.70 carats of lab­grown diamonds and 14 karat white gold bracelet
Value: $3,945

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Louis Vuitton Blossom Open Ring

Jeweller: Louis Vuitton
Product particulars: 0.33 carats of diamonds and 18 karat white gold ring
Value: $8,400

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Cartier Juste un Clou Necklace

Jeweller: Cartier
Product particulars: 0.12 carats of diamonds and 18 karat white gold necklace
Value: $6,450

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Chanel Bouton de Camélia Ring

Jeweller: Chanel
Product particulars: 0.39 carats of diamonds and 18 karat white gold ring
Value: Value upon request

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Anabela Chan Multi-Stone Earrings

Jeweller and retailer: Anabela Chan at Moda Operandi
Product particulars: Lab­grown diamond and 18 karat white and yellow gold vermeil earrings
Value: $4,970

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Jessica McCormack Arbor Knot Bangle

Jeweller: Jessica McCormack
Product particulars: 2.50 carat diamond and 18 karat yellow gold bangle
Value: Value upon request

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This text first appeared in FASHION’s Winter 2024 challenge. Find out more here.

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