Laboratories can detect the vast majority of natural diamonds using advanced instruments that read spectrometric emission and absorption patterns, but to people who are just looking to buy (or sell) diamonds, it can be daunting to realize just how many ways they can be fooled by unscrupulous individuals.
Synthetic diamonds grown using the chemical vapor deposition process, or CVD for short, are almost impossible to distinguish without specific gemological equipment. Many visitors to our laboratory here in Quezon City, have already submitted diamonds that turned out to be man-made through controlled, artificial growth methods. Around 60% of them did not know, or were not sure about the nature of these stones, which causes some concern over honesty in the jewelry trade.
In the US, a company called WV Lab Grown Diamonds uses the CVD technique to pursue ultra-high qualities of synthetic diamond. Their products have now been elevated in size ranking, as the lab has just announced its most recent 6 carat production through trade sites like Rapaport.
Their facility, located in Washington, D.C., aims to pursue forward leaps in the field of diamond synthesis, remarking that the future will probably hold even bigger sizes of CVD man-made diamonds for the public to enjoy.
A 6 carat, colorless diamond was recently created at facet-grade quality. The company stated that their product would price similarly to a 3.5 carat natural diamond in the same color and clarity grade levels, but that's still their own appraisal on the item. (We do not endorse nor confirm their estimate.)
As far as Gemcamp's independent research shows, synthetic diamonds were often priced at 75% the value of their natural counterparts back in 2009. Now, during last year's March expo in Hong Kong, our team of gemologists asked around to find out more regarding the current prices of CVD synthetic stones. One large manufacturer (brand shall remain private), was willing to sell its products initially for 60% the price of a natural counterpart, but later settled for 50% after negotiation.
Man-made diamonds can be a great product for jewelry buyers who are looking for a specific set of criteria in their stones. We will not however, comment on their investment worth, as our position still remains neutral. Research publications from our laboratory only publishes data gathered by our gemologists in and outside of the Philippine market.
We can only attest to the investment appreciation of natural diamond, as it has been stable appreciative asset when evaluated throughout the past decades. Much of the public's interest in natural diamond has paved the way for labs like GIA to create and fortify the grading systems we all follow today, creating a way for industry experts to price and essentially commoditize natural diamond, similar to gold, platinum or other precious metals traded internationally.
