The jewelry business is built on tradition. For centuries, the story of diamond was in the hands of only a few, and they guarded it in order to preserve business as usual. But innovation disrupts tradition, and where there is disruption, there are rumors, skepticism and misinformation.
Here at Blue Vesper, we talk to clients nearly daily that are in love with the beauty and ethics of our stones but are stopped by hush whispers off what they had heard. They fret about “fakeness,” long life or value.
It is time to clear the air. If a modern stone is in the running for your forever ring, you need facts, not fiction. And here are the 5 biggest myths about lab grown diamonds — busted by science and common sense.
Myth #1: “They’re Not Real Diamonds”
The Reality: They are as natural as the ice in your freezer.
It is the most widespread fallacy, and also the label that's easiest to shoot down using science. A lab-created diamond is not a “simulant” such as Cubic Zirconia or Moissanite. It is the same in terms of chemical properties, physical qualities and optical attributes as a natural diamond.
Consider it this way: Ice on a glacier is just frozen water. Ice is frozen water from the freezer in your refrigerator. The back stories may vary, but oh, the H2O is the same. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has also confirmed that a diamond is a diamond, regardless of its provenance. Wearing a Blue Vesper stone means you are wearing 100% crystallized carbon.
Myth #2: “They Will Become Cloudy or Discolored Over Time”
The Reality: A diamond is forever, this is true – no matter where it came from.
Some diamond simulants (such as low-quality cubic zirconia) are porous and can absorb oils, causing them to dull or yellow over time. For this reason, people are concerned that lab-grown diamonds could meet the same end.
They won't. Like mined diamonds, lab-grown ones have the same pulling-power chemical structure and so they too are incredibly stable. And they’ll never fade, fog or change but it will last for a long time without cloud. The sparkle you see on day one is the sparkle you’ll get at your 50th anniversary .
Myth #3: "They Depreciate Too Much"
The Reality: You will not make any money buying a diamond as an investment.
And the bitter truth of the jewelry market is that diamonds, whether mined or lab grown, are retail products, rather than financial instruments like gold bars or shares of stock. If you want to sell a mined diamond the day after buying it, you’ll take a 40 to 60 percent hit on what you paid.
The “value” of a lab-grown diamond can be found in the up-front cost.
- Mined Diamond: You pay $10,000. Later on, you resell it, for $4,000. Loss: $6,000.
- Lab-Grown Diamond: Same quality, you pay $3,000. Even if you get nothing for it on resale, your total “loss” is far less than the mined stone — and maybe you still have about $7,000 in the bank to invest in things that might actually grow (like a down payment on a house or mutual funds).
Myth #4: "They're Easy to Break or Scratch"
The Reality: They are the hardest substance on earth.
Mined or lab-grown, diamonds register a perfect 10 on the Mohs Scale of Mineral Hardness. That makes them the hardest known substances in the universe.
A Blue Vesper lab-grown diamond is so tough that it can cut glass and only be scratched by another diamond. Whether you garden, hit the gym, or lead an active lifestyle in general, thank physics for this: a lab-grown diamond provides exactly the same resistance to wear-and-tear as one that comes out of the earth.
Myth #5: “They Can See The Difference With The Naked Eye”
The Reality: A gemologist even needs a machine to say for sure.
Put a Blue Vesper lab-grown diamond side by side with the same graded mined equivalent, and even the keenest human eye won’t be able to detect that difference. They refract light in exactly the same way (that’s called “refractive index”), and they disperse color in just exactly the same fashion (“fire”).
Even the local jeweler with a standard hand held loupe (magnifying glass) can not tell the difference. Differentiating between the two, according to Lattimer, involves extremely specialized and expensive laboratory equipment that can detect trace amounts of elements on a molecular level. To your friends, family and admirers, it’s just an amazing diamond.
The Bottom Line
The fears that have built up around lab-grown diamonds are often driven by an industry terrified of change. But at Blue Vesper, we’re all about the future. We don’t think you should have to choose between your budget and your ethics in order to purchase a stone that stands for love.
Don’t allow outdated myths to prevent you from finding the diamond of your dreams.
Still have questions? Let’s talk face-to-face.