Lab grown diamond or other gemstone

Why is it madness?

I only buy blood diamonds.

Okay fair enough. But clothes, runners, smartphone components and many other things are produced by child labour/in near-slave conditions so it is a wide problem usually ignored by most people.

If I had a choice between a natural diamond that had definitely been mined ethically and a lab grown one I'd prefer the former.

The rarity of unique stones produced by nature is a factor in the price.

Except they may not be as rare as we are led to believe.. there are hoards of them- stored away to keep scarcity high.

Its only relatively recently that diamonds were heavily advertised as a must-have for engagement rings and so inflated their value...

My mate works as a diamond trader. He has worked in the industry for decades, including for DeBeers who mange and control most mined diamonds in the world. He now sells unset cut diamonds into the jewellery trade.

A few years he sold almost no lab grown diamonds, now they make up the bulk of his business. They are better quality than mined diamonds and are cheaper, although the price differential has shrunk over the past couple of years he tells me.

There is no way to tell a lab grown diamond from a mined diamond except that the lab grown ones tend to be better quality. The GIA use the same rules for grading both types so a VS1 H 1CT diamond for example is the same whether lab grown or mined.

Maybe I'm wrong, since I'm the only person who thought natural seemed better. It looks like lab grown diamonds are becoming popular.

I don't understand the fascination with mined diamonds when there are hundreds of different gem stones and crystals like opals that are far more beautiful and intricate with a huge variety of shades and colours where the imperfections/contaminants actually do add to the beauty and uniqueness of the gem. Like a mined diamond is just a really shiny lump of well organised carbon, and are actually inferior to the lab grown ones. Why someone would work anything from 1-12 months of their life just to own an inferior gem baffles me. Get a ring made of meteorite, or some rare earth metal. Get a sapphire or an emerald or the gem that aligns with birth or something.

I can't see the diamond industry lasting in it's current form. Look at amethysts for example. Once their beautiful deep purple was prized as highly as rubies and sapphires, now because of massively increased supplies they are a tenth if not less than the price of their counterparts. Carbon is an abundant material, it might not be for a few decades but the time will come where the average person could probably have a diamond grower in their house for making tool tips etc. and all those mined diamonds will only have sentimental or historical value.

Child labour helps keep prices down to a more sustainable level.

I do not understand the fascination with having a vulgar piece of shiny stone on one's finger.

I wouldn't insult the wife by buying makey uppy fake diamonds. Not natural at all. That's part of the charm of real diamonds.

My partner choose a lab grown diamond for her engagement right. The quality of the stone was far better in terms of clarity, flaws, colour.

I'm not one bit concerned of the retail value of the diamond. Far as we care the retail to see it on is zero but the ring looks fab. Substantial saving in the cost of 50% over the mined diamond. When your saving for a wedding, house and kids to come down the line she much rather have the ring she wanted and still have a small some in the bank.

OP good choice with the lab diamond.