Lab-Grown vs Natural

A stigma often surrounds the concept of man-made diamonds where some don’t believe that they’re ‘real’ diamonds. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

While they may not be naturally mined, the gemstones that are created in a lab have the same chemical and optical properties as those formed within the earth’s crust. The diamonds are exactly the same, meaning that even expert geologists can’t tell them apart.

What’s the difference?

The only difference is the way in with they’re created.

Natural Diamonds: Natural diamonds require billions of years’ worth of extremely high pressure and temperatures found only 80 miles deep inside the Earth’s mantle. The path from the Earth’s mantle to adorning your ring can be complex, but you’d expect nothing less from the hardest and most stable form of pure carbon. Once there has been immense pressure and a diamond has formed, it is brought to the surface through aeons of volcanic eruptions which embed the gemstone in large chunks of rock. Diamonds are a universal symbol for everlasting love and roughly around 133 million carats of rough diamonds are mined every year.

Lab-Grown Diamonds: The Lab-Grown process is becoming even more refined, leading to some diamond experts to consider it alongside their natural supply. Lab created diamonds are grown in highly controlled laboratory settings which mimic the natural growing environment provided by the Earth. This process is significantly quicker, especially because we don’t have to wait aeons for more diamonds to make their way to the surface. Creating a diamond in a lab can take anywhere between 3 to 10 weeks and these can grow up to a size of 3 carats. By comparison, the diamonds that we are mining today could have made their way to the surface anywhere between 1 to 3.3 billion years ago.

What’s the most valuable?

When considering value, mined diamonds are worth much more and will retain their price over the years. This is due to the scarcity and rarity of the gem and the billions of years’ worth of development.

Meanwhile, man-made diamonds are quite common and due to being used primarily in electronics or other industrial purposes do not retain their value nearly as much.

Even with the most talented diamond experts and geologists being unable to tell the difference between the two, there is a clear difference in value. While you are paying more for a real diamond, you’re also paying for a universal symbol of love which has spent billions of years in the making.