Concern About Man-Made Diamond Detection Grows in India and Other Countries

Despite being one of the world's go-to cutting centers for diamond, India has also had some bad experiences with undisclosed man-made stones. In Chennai, a growing concern over the rise in usage of synthetic diamonds have caused some traders to worry. For most people who are familiar with artificially grown diamonds, they're aware that prices for these materials are not nearly the same as their natural counterparts. In an article by Firstpost, about awareness and cautions of jewellers regarding this matter, a Mr. Padmanaban from N.A.C. Jewellers has mentioned an interesting observation: "In overseas markets, jewellers declare it as synthetic diamond. Also, a synthetic diamond in itself is a separate market there. But, here they sell it for the price of an original diamond."



In countries with less specified regulations for the sale and description of a man-made stone versus a natural stone, it can be quite difficult to responsibly purchase such expensive items. A lot of small-time jewellers seem to rely on an old technology of testing diamonds- these small instruments held like pens are usually a bit smaller than a standard TV remote, but they're currently the most affordable tool that can be bought over-the-counter. These machines use thermal conductivity to rule out cubic zirconia and glass from diamond. Some other versions also make use of electrical conductivity to try and rule out moissanite as well. Regardless of whether or not you think these instruments show any consistency, the fact remains that because man-made diamonds share the essential atomic structure of natural diamonds, they can in fact, bypass these instruments with complete ease.

Diamond dealers should sell their items responsibly, disclosing to buyers if the diamond they're selling was grown in a factory or mined from the earth. This would be the case in an ideal business setting, but since the world isn't always full of ethics or honesty, buyers must take it upon themselves to gain awareness on the differences in price and status between these two very differently sourced products.



Gemologists now have to rely on spectrometers that study the luminescence patterns of gemstones in order to differentiate a man-made diamond from a natural one. Telling by eye is possible, especially for older types of synthetics, however the newer variants can sometimes come completely eye-clean due to better improvements in technology. Here at our laboratory we make use of spectrometric instrumentation imported from California to help the Filipino people gain more information about their stones. We function as a third-party assessor and give our opinion on the identities of gemstones after subjecting them to a number of non-destructive laboratory tests.

One study has shown that the market for synthetic or man-made diamond in the Asia-Pacific region has been estimated at about $7,496 million dollars. While this continues to grow in the east, the market in the west is still considerably higher, due closer proximity to technological pioneers.