Lab grown diamond or other gemstone

Why is it madness?

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.

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.

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.

Just bought a pair(different batch numbers, which are laser cut into the diamonds) of round .08 carat purple hued pink diamonds.

These were mined at the Argyle diamond mine in the Kimberley region in Western Australia. Currently this mine is closed.

Absolutely beautiful to look at. My 9 yo granddaughter will be getting them for Christmas.

Some people think you can just go to the diamond mines and buy them.

To me lab diamonds are superior - they are not fakes, they are absolutely real diamonds, just created in a different way. A way that is far, far less problematic for the environment and for human rights.

However, there is a big but. Lab grown diamonds depreciate in value while mined diamonds generally don’t (depending on quality). This may not always be the case but it has been to date. So a good quality mined diamond may be an investment you can pass down to your kids or grandkids, while a lab grown diamond will not hold the same value. You could argue that this is wrong, that it’s market manipulation or whatever, but it’s a market we all have to live in and it’s just a fact.

Maybe this will change as perceptions change. Or maybe it will actually magnify as lab grown diamonds become more common and mined diamonds become more rare. But for now a mined diamond, though more expensive, represents better value financially as it doesn’t start dramatically losing its value the second you walk out the door of the jewellers in the way a lab grown diamond does.