Since laboratory grown diamonds have flooded the market regulations and standards on what you can refer to as a diamond have changed. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) cleared up the confusion. When the word diamond is used alone, it can only be referring to a real natural diamond that came from the earth. Retailers and manufacturers must always disclose when a diamond is lab grown or synthetic.
What’s the Difference?
Real Natural Earth Born Diamonds™ were made within the earth millions to billions of years ago, making them extremely rare and special. Synthetic / lab grown diamonds are mass-produced within a few weeks in a laboratory. If they were exactly the same, the FTC would not need to enforce specific language around lab grown diamonds, and there wouldn’t be machines that can identify the difference between the two.Here are examples of the terminology used when describing anything other than a real natural Earth Born Diamond.
- Synthetic
- Laboratory-grown (lab grown)
- Manufacturer-created
- Man-man Diamonds
- Specific manufacturer-created diamonds
Laboratory created stones have the same physical and chemical properties as real, natural stones but they are manufactured in a lab. Imitation stones can look like natural stones but do not have the same chemical or physical properties. An imitation stone may be made of glass or plastic. Some jewelers, like Steven Singer Jewelers, feel that lab grown diamonds are just an imitation of the real thing and are comparable to cubic zirconium, moissanite, and glass.
It’s never been about the chemical makeup of a diamond that makes it so special. It’s about the rarity and natural beauty that a real natural diamond symbolizes. If the Mona Lisa was replicated down to the exact paint strokes and looked the same, would it be the Mona Lisa or just a really good replica? Just like the craftsmanship of Leonardo da Vinci, how a diamond is made matters.
We at Steven Singer Jewelers only sell real natural Earth Born Diamonds™. We have never and would never sell a lab grown diamond that has no intrinsic value. That’s just not who we are or what we believe in. We are a real jeweler, selling real diamonds, for your real love!
