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Lab Grown Diamonds

What are Lab-Grown Diamonds?

Lab-grown diamonds have been around for a number of decades, originally created and used for industrial purposes. A lab-grown diamond can be created using two methods; the High Pressure High Temperature Treatment and Chemical Vapour Disposition, both commonly referred to as their acronyms HPHT and CVD. Jewellery grade synthetic (lab-grown) diamonds have only been around since the 1990’s as stated in this article produced by the GIA (Gemological Institute of America). The last few years has seen an increased desire from consumers to purchase lab-grown diamonds due to being a more sustainable option and environmentally friendly.

Are Lab-Grown Diamonds The Same as a Natural Diamond?

Natural diamonds have been mined for over four thousand years. They start their journey under the deep within the earth’s mantle over a billion years ago. Diamonds were even around when dinosaurs walked the earth. A natural diamond is created when the element carbon is subjected to tremendous heat and pressure beneath the earth’s surface.

Modern technology aims to replicate the conditions of the earth’s mantle but in a controlled and laboratory environment. Lab-grown diamonds take weeks to make as opposed to years and without the mining conditions and supply chain are a more sustainable and cheaper alternative. A lab-grown diamond is optically, chemically, and physically identical to a natural diamond. However the main difference is the origin journey of the raw diamond.

A lab-grown diamond is optically, chemically, and physically identical to a natural diamond.

Why Are Diamonds & Lab-Grown Diamonds Popular?

Originally diamonds were mined and used as tools, way before their true beauty was discovered through cutting. They are one of the most prized and expensive gemstones, with the four major gemstones being diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds.

“Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.” – you may have heard this saying before, and it is very much true! Diamonds became increasingly desirable in the 1950’s, through pop-culture  such as the popularity of Marilyn Monroe. She appeared in the very famous film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, in which she performs the song “Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend”. Marilyn Monroe performs this song wearing her iconic pink dress whilst covered in large glistening jewellery.

“Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.”

Marilyn Monroe

As consumers have become more aware of the environmental and social impact of their fashion and shopping choices, the question of ethics surrounding diamonds has also been raised. The Kimberley Process was created as certification with a mission to reduce the mining and exporting of “Blood Diamonds”.  Please visit our article on our ethically sourced diamonds.

Lab-grown diamonds are viewed as an ethically sourced and more sustainable option which is why they have seen a boom in more recent years. As these are created in a laboratory, there is no mining involved and seen as the more environmentally friendly alternative. As well as this, the huge supply chain of a natural mined diamond is removed, thus they are considerably cheaper – meaning you can get more sparkle for your money!

How are Lab-Grown Diamonds Created?

Diamonds are almost entirely made of carbon, which is incredible as carbon in graphite and yet this is incredibly soft! It is the way in which the heat and pressure has transformed this element creating an incredible crystal structure in the diamond that is super strong. A diamonds crystal lattice is cubic and incredibly well structured and strong, whereas a graphite lattice is structurally unsecure.

There are two processes in which a lab-grown diamond can be made, these processes mimic the conditions from deep within the earths mantle. The High Pressure High Temperature process take a diamond slice, known as a diamond seed, and is placed into carbon inside of a machine. This diamond seed is subjected to pressure of 5 GPa which is 730000 psi and heated to around 1500 degrees Celsius. The carbon melts and forms around the diamond seed causing a large synthetic diamond.

The second process is Chemical Vapor Disposition, where a diamond seed is placed in a chamber with a hydrocarbon gas mixture and is then exposed to a temperature of around 800 degrees Celsius. During this process other gases are introduced which are energized and ironised, using powers such as microwave powers or lasers. The diamond seed begins to grow as it crystallises, creating a synthetic diamond.

Are Lab-Grown Diamonds Certified?

Yes, Lab-grown diamonds are indeed certified just like natural diamonds. Lab-grown diamonds are certified by independent bodies such as the IGI and GIA. The GIA have been issuing laboratory grown diamonds with identification reports since 2007. The certificate includes the all important 4 C’s; cut, colour, clarity and carat. The report will also identify which process was used to create the diamond, either stating if it is a HPHT or CVD created diamond.

Learn more about the 4 C’s from our article here.

Lab-Grown Diamond Vs. Natural Diamond

Although a lab-grown diamond is seen as the more sustainable and ethical option compared to a natural diamond, ultimately they are grown in laboratories which use an awful lot of power leaning heavily on fossil fuels for energy. This can lead to a large output of carbon pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. The only way a lab-grown diamond could be seen as categorically the most sustainable option, would be if the laboratory relied solely on hydropower, then the environmental impacts would be far less. The biggest and major selling point of a lab-grown diamond, is the fact that they are considerably cheaper than a natural diamond. Meaning that you can get a lot more for your money, should you wish to have a bigger diamond on a smaller budget. View our range of lab-grown diamond engagement rings here.

As we are becoming more conscious about climate change and environmental factors, leading diamond miners, such as De Beers are making sure that they are committed to becoming carbon neutral. De Beers are the largest diamond company in the world, and they do not take this role lightly and make sure they share their best practices within the industry and encourage others to follow their lead. Another benefit of mining natural diamonds is the number of jobs the industry offers to communities. Botswana in particular has benefited positively economically from diamond mining. Due to the Kimberley Process, you can also be sure that your diamond is not the result of a “Blood Diamond” and has a fully traceable origin. And finally, a natural diamond is a rare and authentic gemstone which will forever hold its unique value, should you choose a natural diamond for your engagement ring.

A natural diamond is a rare and authentic gemstone which will forever hold its unique value.

Whichever diamond you wish to go for, we can absolutely help you find the perfect diamond for your engagement ring. Whether you wish to go for a lab-grown diamond or a natural diamond, we have access to over 1 million certified stones and can be sure to help you find the one for your bespoke engagement ring – which will become a wonderful heirloom for you and your family.

The 4 C’s –  Buying the best value Diamond

Using Your Knowledge Of The Four C’s And Without Paying A Premium

If you have are about to purchase a diamond then you need to educate yourself to find out are you getting good deal. – many high street jewellers will encourage you to purchase the diamonds that they have in stock as opposed to sourcing a stone to suit your requirements.

Start by understanding what it is you want from a diamond especially when you look at it; do you want the diamond to sparkle, do you want the diamond to be bright and white, or do you want the largest diamond that your budget can buy you? Unless of course you have an unlimited amount of money to spend on a diamond, you will find that at some point you will have to compromise on one of the four C’s.

The 4 C’s

  • Colour
  • Clarity
  • Cut
  • Carat

The Colour

Or rather – the lack of colour!

When buying a diamond, with the exception of purchasing a fancy diamond, you want your diamond to be as free from colour as possible. The diamond colour grading system begins alphabetically from D and goes right the way through to Z

The colour is an important visual characteristic, the higher the colour grade, the brighter and “whiter” the stone appears. The GIA (Gemological Institute of America) are a diamond certification body and use sub-groupings to further simplify the colour grading system:

  • Colourless are grades D-F
  • Near Colourless are grades G-J
  • Faint  Yellow are grades K-M
  • Very Light Yellow are grades N-R
  • Light Yellow are grades S-Z

What colour grade should you look for when buying a diamond?

Two colour grades apart – left is an E colour diamond, on the right is a G colour diamond.

A diamond which is a colour grade D is deemed as the best and most rare, therefore you pay a premium for a stone of this colour grade. Unless you have a highly trained eye, and have two loose diamonds sitting next to each other on a plain piece of white paper, at least 3 colour grades apart – it is very difficult to see the subtle colour difference. However is can greatly affect the price of a diamond.

Our recommendation would to be to stay in the “near colourless” grades and the “colourless” range, preferably grades G colour and above. Diamonds in the near colourless range will be sensational and bright but without the high price tag. It is not a necessity to have a D coloured diamond, especially when even one colour grade down will look almost identical but may save you a lot of money.

The Clarity

Diamonds are created deep within the earth’s mantle in extreme conditions. The environments in which they develop in are far from controlled and so inclusions and blemishes can form and are present in almost all diamonds. Flawless diamonds are exceptionally rare thus there is a premium should you wish to acquire such a stone. Some jewellers may have a negative view on inclusions and blemishes, but ultimately they are after all, natures hallmark and fingerprint.

The grades for clarity are similar across many certification bodies, with slight variations. The grades are based upon how free from inclusions and blemishes a diamond is using 10X magnification. The clarity is graded with a number of factors in mind such as placement, the size of the inclusion, the number of inclusions, the colour of the inclusion as well as a whole range of other factors.

A diamond viewed through a 10X magnification loupe.

The clarity grades from the IGI (International Gemological Insitute):
  • Flawless – F
  • Internally Flawless – IF
  • Very Very Slightly Included 1 & 2 – VVS1 & VVS2
  • Very Slightly Included 1 & 2 – VS1 & VS2
  • Slightly Included 1 & 2 – SI1 & SI2
  • Imperfect 1, 2 & 3 – I1, I2 & I3

It is advisable to stay above the imperfect range unless it is a specific look that you are going for, as the more heavily included your diamond is, the less valuable it is – so keep this in mind when purchasing your stone.

Slightly Included diamonds are our personal favourite as you can absolutely have a stunning slightly included diamond which is perfectly eye clean and does not impact on your diamonds fire or brilliance. An eye clean stone is a stone which has no visible inclusions, especially in the top table facet, from a distance of circa 6 – 8 inches away from an unaided eye.

An IGI certified diamond.

If you wish you to have a higher clarity diamond, it will cost extra and it is not a necessity, as all you need a diamond to be is eye clean. Otherwise you are paying a premium for a characteristic you cannot physically see without the aid of 10X magnification and a trained eye.

The Cut

Would you like your diamond to sparkle – should have been the title here! A diamond is known for its brilliance, fire and scintillation, which are a direct result of how well it has been cut and how good the proportions, symmetry and polish are. The cut grades are a measure of how well a diamond interacts with light and the light return that it gives.

Round Brilliant Cut Diamond

The cut grades from the IGI are:
  • Excellent
  • Very Good
  • Good
  • Fair
  • Poor

You do not, under any circumstances, wish to purchase a poor or a fair cut diamond. This will simply be a diamond which is either cut too deep or too shallow, which results in light leaking out of the sides and will be a lifeless diamond. It would be like a person without a personality – the sparkle is the epitome of a diamond.

The cut does not refer to the shape of the diamond, however the shape and cutting style plays a role in the overall cut grade. The most popular shape of a diamond is a round diamond, but a diamond can be cut in numerous different shapes including an oval, a marquise or even a heart shape!

The perfect cut arrangement originated in 1919 by Marcel Tolkowsky. He calculated the specifics to achieve a perfect cut diamond, the optimum number or facets, their perfect placements, along with the exact and best proportions to provide the maximum light return and dispersion. This cut is one of the most famous diamond cutting styles, known all over the world and is still used to this day – the round brilliant cut. Other cutting styles include the step cut and mixed cuts.

The Carat

The carat is the measurement of the weight of a diamond. The carat weight is a metric measurement divided into 100 points – the precise weight of a 1 carat diamond is 200 milligrams. To some, a diamonds carat weight can be one of their main priorities. However, if you have a very strict budget this could mean that you are compromising too heavily on another characteristic in order to achieve the biggest diamond for your price range.

You can be clever when it comes to choosing the size of your diamond. For example, if you are interested in a 1 carat diamond and you include in your search a diamond between the ranges of 0.90ct – 0.99ct, it can look very similar in size to a 1 carat diamond and may even spread the same. By lowering your carat weight search, you could find the perfect diamond of a similar size, yet save yourself a lot of money. The spread of a diamond is a measurement in millimetres – an average 1 carat measures around 6.4mm.

Avoid, where possible, benchmark carat weights such as 0.50ct, 0.75 and the definitive 1 carat mark. Diamonds are sold on price per carat basis, and a typical consumer wishes to be able to say that she has a 1 carat diamond solitaire engagement ring, therefore a 1 carat stone costs a premium. Unfortunately there is no steady correlation between the price of a diamond and its carat weight. Discuss with your local jeweller as to what carat you are aiming for and what could look like a similar sized diamond, but without the premium price.

The 5th C?

The Certificate of Course!
Which diamond certificate should you look for?

GIA Diamond Report

The GIA are undoubtedly the most globally recognised diamond graders and have a fantastic reputation; however there are other highly reputable and well known certification bodies such as HRD (Diamond High Council) and the IGI (International Gemmological Institute). The IGI were established in 1975 and have worldwide laboratories including the oldest laboratory in Antwerp, and the HRD were established in 1973 and pride themselves on integrity and developing new ways to screen and examine diamonds.

IGI Diamond Report

Despite how they may seem, diamond certificates are actually not hard written scientific facts but are ultimately an opinion from trained diamond graders. I would advise looking at all reputable diamond certifications with your diamond as this could also save you money when purchasing a loose diamond or an engagement ring. GIA certified diamonds due to a number of reasons, but mostly down to incredible marketing, demand higher prices than the exact same diamond but with an alternative certification.

A standard HRD certificate includes the following information:
  • The date of the diamond report
  • Report number – referring to the laboratories database
  • Shape of the diamond
  • Measurements of the diamond in millimetres
  • The carat weight, the colour grade, the clarity grade and the cut grade – the important four C’s!
  • The finish, polish and symmetry of the diamond
  • The fluorescence of the diamond
  • An inclusion plotting diagram – typically only present if a diamond is over 1 carat
  • HRD cut, colour and clarity grading scales

Fluorescence

A diamond exhibiting medium blue fluorescence.

A natural phenomenon is diamond fluorescence which refers to when a diamond emits a glow, typically a blue glow, when under an ultraviolet source such as a black light or strong sunlight. Not all diamonds have fluorescence, only around 25 – 35% of diamonds show a degree of fluorescence. When looking for your perfect diamond we advise to look for diamonds which have none, faint or slight fluorescence. Strong fluorescence can have a negative visual impact on the diamond by making it appear milky or cloudy to the naked eye.

Ask Your Local Jeweller

If you are in the midst of looking for a loose diamond or a diamond engagement ring, you should ask your local jeweller questions on anything you do not understand about the four C’s. Do not be pressured into buying a diamond you do not wish to own, even if you think it is a bargain – it could be a bargain for the wrong reasons.

We Can Help You Too!

We have access to over 1 million diamonds, and so if you would like to discuss purchasing a loose diamond from us, or you are interested in creating a bespoke diamond engagement ring – we can help!

A collection of our bespoke diamond engagement rings.

Please do not hesitate to contact us via email contact@internationaldiamond-brokers.com.

To see or follow our work, please visit our Facebook page or find us on Instagram.

We can create you the perfect diamond engagement ring and tailor it specifically to your personal preferences and your price range. We can take your dream and make it a reality.

We have access to over 1.5 million different loose diamonds worldwide. Loose diamonds as the term infers means that the diamond is not in a setting.

There are a great many reasons to buy a loose diamond. Some people like to give loose diamonds as a present so that the recipient can build a ring around the diamond. Loose diamonds can like any other diamond be certified or uncertified but we at International prefer to sell certified stones.

One might ask is there anything wrong with an uncertified loose diamond. The answer is sometimes no as the diamond can look on the face of it as good as any other diamond but often the mine will have decided that it is not going to make certain criteria and that these stones will be sold off at a discount. Sometimes an uncertified loose diamond can be available at a very substantial discount so do not rule them out. Most reputable dealers offering loose diamonds will offer to upgrade them to loose diamond later on when the finances improve.

Some people prefer to sacrifice quality for size and the trick is to find a happy medium when buying your loose diamond certified or not.

In the modern world diamonds can be transported quickly and we can get a diamond from most parts of the earth within days! Once a loose diamond has been found we can build a setting to fit around it and this is done by creating a CAD. CADS or Computer aided designs often look unattractive because of their sheer size. Do not let this put you off the designs have to be of scale in order for the cad operator to be able to see them properly.

Good luck with finding your loose diamond. We supply both loose diamonds and the complete ring and are happy to supply either.

 

 

 

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