Myth 1: 'Lab grown diamonds hold their value over time.'

Lab-grown diamonds began populating jewelry retail spaces more frequently in 2015. At that time, a good ballpark figure was to say that a typical 1 carat lab-grown diamond would cost anywhere between 10-16% less than a natural diamond counterpart with similar color and clarity traits.

Fast-forward to 2020, and the production of lab-grown diamond products for the jewelry industry has reached substantially higher levels. It would be common to see lab-grown diamonds go for around 45-55% less than their natural diamond counterparts with the same grade. This substantial drop had dealt a heavy blow to early investors of CVD and HPHT lab-grown diamonds, although the trend merely followed laws of supply and demand wherein improving technologies (that had also gotten cheaper with their widespread adoption) created the opportunity for many newcomers to go into the manufacturing business of LGD. It was a lucrative space that was becoming more and more accessible to producers.

As we jump forward to late 2024 and early 2025, observant buyers will now notice that prices for lab-grown diamonds have gone down even further. It would not be uncommon to be able to acquire a lab-grown diamond at a price around 90% cheaper than a natural diamond with equivalent 4C traits. Depending on the source, reports of 92-95% cheaper price tags have also surfaced, giving rise to a divide in the jewelry collector market’s reception of LGD’s. More affordable prices can sometimes blur the gap between commercial jewelry and fine jewelry items, however fans of lab-grown diamonds hyperfixate on the fact that these items are still diamonds- in the sense that they have the same essential chemical composition, crystal structure, brilliance and even hardness. 

Myth 2: 'Lab grown diamonds are “certified” by major laboratories.'

Many of the world's leading laboratories, such as the Gemological Institute of America, issue gemological reports as their official document type (even for natural diamonds and other gemstones). This may be read on their website statement here. Most of the jewelry industry has adopted the trade term ‘cert’ or ‘certificate’ when referring to these kinds of reports, due to the fact that such words have more of an impact from a purely marketing standpoint. 

While many laboratories do accept testing requests for lab-grown diamonds, it’s important to note that there may often be very substantial differences to the way lab-grown diamonds are described on reports in contrast to how natural diamonds are described. GIA for example, at least as of this article’s publication, has announced changes to the format and content of reports for lab-grown diamonds. One important change would be that they “will start using descriptive terms to characterize the quality of laboratory-grown diamonds” and “will no longer use the color and clarity nomenclature that GIA developed for natural diamonds.” - both statements quoted from their website announcements. This will supposedly go into effect in October of this year.

What does this mean exactly? While laboratory policies and systems are ever changing (even quick paced in the recent months), for now at least they have clarified that lab-grown diamonds formerly graded in the D-Z color range will now be much more simply classified as: “premium” or “standard,” based on GIA’s own assessment of clarity, color, and cut. Likewise any LGD that does not meet the criteria even for “standard”, will not receive a grading. Interested readers may inquire directly with GIA on this, as we are only basing this information from their public announcements on different platforms. Such policies may also change or be further clarified at the discretion of GIA itself of course.

Myth 3: 'Lab-grown diamonds are the same as imitations like cubic zirconia and moissanite.'

While this may be easier to debunk for experienced jewelry buyers, not everyone knows about the technical differentiation between lab-grown diamonds versus other kinds of “diamond alternatives” out there on the market.

Lab-grown diamonds are man-made or artificially created diamonds with the same essential chemical composition and crystal structure as the diamond mineral we all know of. While some differences remain (such as crystal habit, which is influenced by the growth method and machinery involved), traits such as Moh’s hardness (10), refractive index and adamantine luster are the same for both natural and lab-grown diamonds.

Now in contrast to this, there are what we call diamond “simulants”, also known as diamond “imitations”. These are in simple terms- materials that look like diamond (to the point where visually they can be very hard to distinguish apart using the naked eye), but do not possess the same essential chemistry or atomic structure as diamond. The most popular diamond simulants used today are cubic zirconia and moissanite, both of which are currently very much cheaper to buy or manufacture compared to lab-grown diamonds.

Cubic zirconia was the earlier of the two imitation types to be invented and popularized. In response to this, a very simple technology was adapted using thermal conductivity detection, in the effort to aid jewelers with the separation of cubic zirconia from diamond. It should be noted however that these ‘thermal conductivity pen testers’ cannot distinguish between moissanite, natural diamond and lab-grown diamond. 

Today, advanced spectrometric tests are typically the go-to necessary screening method used for the separation of lab-grown diamonds from natural diamonds. One cannot rely on those old diamond pen testers that were once invented for the easy detection of cubic zirconia or other older simulants.

Electronic or multi-testers that sometimes make use of a combination of thermal and electrical conductivity are occasionally useful for detecting moissanite, however they are not black-and-white tests as most people may believe. Many HPHT lab-grown diamonds for example have boron impurities that increase the electrical conductivity of the stone. This can easily confuse a multi-tester into thinking that an HPHT lab-grown diamond is a moissanite by mistake. Such is only one of the issues that should be considered when using even the newer types of pen testers today.

When in doubt, especially with high value purchases, it is always best to counter-check the item with a gemological laboratory that does not buy or sell diamonds and gemstones commercially. An impartial, third-party assessment is usually the most ethical and accurate choice for transparency in the jewelry trade today, which is why most of the largest laboratories in the world such as GIA, SSEF, Gem-A and HRD do not buy and sell gemstone items.

Today, we'll just lightly discuss four common misconceptions believed about diamonds in the jewelry industry. We'll briefly offer counterpoints to these statements in order to provide helpful information from our own experiences and point-of-view.



1.) Some say that diamonds are nearly indestructible?

Diamonds are not indestructible. Even if they are the hardest naturally occurring mineral on the planet, hardness is understood by definition as 'resistant to scratches or abrasion' rather than being impervious to breakage or splitting. Diamonds are actually able to 'chip' and break, especially at the thinnest points of their physical structure- the girdle edge and the culet. Chipped diamonds obviously become lower in value, as this does affect their clarity grade. Likewise, diamonds also have certain crystallographic directions where the bonds between atoms are weaker, causing them to possibly or potentially 'split apart' in clean breaks if hit with enough force along those directions. These are called cleavage planes. Furthermore, diamonds are made of carbon. Carbon can burn. Which is why diamonds can be altered significantly by intensely high temperature fires, and can also be 'cut' or separated using lasers.

2.) There are some people who say that 'lab-grown diamonds' are not diamonds at all? (specifically referring to CVD and HPHT produced LG diamonds)

Actually, by chemical definition- a diamond is essentially made-up of carbon atoms crystallized in the isometric / cubic crystal lattice system. By this definition, a lab-grown diamond is a diamond. The difference between natural diamonds and lab-grown diamonds mainly relates to two things: market price value and how they grew. Natural diamonds take billions of years to form, and this results in the presence of minor trace-elements and certain atomic defects when compared to lab-grown diamonds, which allow properly equipped gemological laboratories to differentiate between the two. Trace elements are very small percentages of elements that are non-essential to a diamond's basic chemistry, but form along with it during growth. The present-day selling prices / value of natural diamonds are higher than those of artificially grown or man-made diamonds due to the rarity factors involved, as well as the idea that lab-grown diamonds can simply be produced over and over again (despite manufacturing technologies still being expensive). Be very careful of using terms like 'real' or 'genuine' when buying or selling a lab-grown diamond. These terms are very subjective and can have different meanings and interpretations for different people. For ethical transparency you should always say 'lab-grown diamond', if your stone is indeed a man-made diamond. You can always further differentiate it from imitation materials like moissanite or cubic zirconia as well, and say that its essential chemistry is composed of carbon.

(Note: Lab-grown diamonds are different from lab-grown imitation materials like cubic zirconia or moissanite. This article refers specifically to lab-grown diamonds grown from the Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) process or the High-Pressure, High-Temperature (HPHT) process. We are only talking about man-made diamonds themselves (carbon chemistry), not about any kind of simulant or lookalike gem material.)

We would like to deeply thank Biznews Asia Magazine for their recent 5-page spread feature on our gemological laboratory. In light of the ever-growing jewelry and gemstone trade, our team assists with the scientific identification and grading of diamonds and gemstones for collectors, jewelry brands and online retailers alike.




At the current time (for 2019), note that our laboratory has shifted focus to the examination of fully-cut, transparent gemstones, diamonds and jewelry only. We are not evaluating raw, rough or partially-cut gemstones for this year. In accordance with this direction, we now maintain many advanced instruments catering to the study and evaluation of fully faceted gemstone materials, including diamond, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, topaz, aquamarine, tourmaline, kunzite, peridot, alexandrite and many more species and varieties.

Our current scope of interest, is the polished / faceted diamond industry. Our gemological team members have undergone specific training and educational progress at the Gemological Institute of America in order to properly support the Philippine jewelry trade.




With the growing popularity of lab-grown or man-made stones becoming an issue for many jewelry buyers, we provide our own professional services to help them obtain more detailed information about their precious gemstones. We ourselves do not grow diamonds, we only perform the necessary tests to check and separate potentially lab-grown stones from a majority of natural counterparts. We also do not engage in the buying or selling of gemstones, in order to maintain no vested interest towards any gemstone examined at our laboratory.

We carefully examine fully finished-cut diamonds, whether these are mounted or loose- using highly-advanced testing instruments such as photoluminescence-based spectrometers, and gemological equipment such as gem refractometers, spectroscopes and many others.

Laboratory grown diamonds, for those who do not know- can bypass or fool those handheld jewelry testers / diamond testers you usually see in most jewelry retail shops. We're pointing to those small 'beep' gadgets that base their assessment on thermal and electrical conductivity of course- which are useful tests for moissanite and cubic zirconia (assuming the instrument is properly calibrated and consistent). Lab-grown diamonds are also made up of carbon, and grow in the cubic crystal system, just like their natural counterparts. Advanced spectrometric testing is needed to identify the vast majority of natural diamonds today, as sometimes even gemological microscopes are no longer enough on their own.

One main marketing point that lab-grown diamond sellers use to appeal to millennials especially, is the notion that they are both ethical and eco-friendly, compared to the notorious blood diamonds that people may be familiar with. While you may or may not agree with this side of their story, each seller obviously markets his or her own product to the best they can write.

The movie 'Blood Diamond' starring Leonardo DiCaprio, showed us some terrible scenes that people have come to believe as 'standard' in natural diamond mining. Today though, the Kimberly Process and many other systems of ethical protection already protect the vast majority of the natural diamond trade. Jewellers and jewelry buyers alike do not want gemstones to help terrorists, and so the global industry as a whole has already undergone changes to safeguard the diamond industry against 'blood diamonds'.



Lab-grown diamonds are much easier to create, compared to finding and mining natural diamonds from remote areas of the globe. Some people would say this is more eco-friendly, due to the fact that no digging of earth is actually involved. Note that while the demand for lab-grown diamonds as 'cheaper' more eco-friendly diamonds continues to grow, so does the number of suppliers in the trade. More and more people are creating factories to "make" diamonds, and this can have a drastic effect on the balance between consumer pricing and general supply. The articles linked above, might help you get updated on the situation which continues to evolve every day.

In the past, she had brought a previous suite of channel-set earrings and a ring, that were sold as natural (earth-mined) diamonds. Upon spectrometric testing, Short-wave UV evaluation, microscopy testing under crossed polars and other applicable tests at the time, these were all distinguished to be man-made diamonds grown via the HPHT process. A few of the stones possessed very characteristic globular metallic flux as well, which are known remnants of the HPHT growth procedure.



Thankfully, this time around, her pavé set ring (purchased from another seller) had been thoroughly checked, with all stones passing as Type 1aAB natural diamonds. The past two months has seen an increase in visitors who bring in potentially lab-grown diamonds for testing, under the assumption that these items were natural. Both lab-grown diamonds and natural diamonds currently have a high price rate, but valuations of each are not the same. Man-made diamonds have been observed to cost about 30% cheaper at the retail level compared with natural diamonds. At the loose-stone, wholesale and dealer levels, we have met with people pricing their lab-grown diamonds at 40-60% lower than natural counterparts.




Gemcamp neither buys nor sells gemstones or gem-set jewelry. We merely check stones and give our opinion on the current markets. Lab-grown diamonds are very elegant gemstones in their own right, and are appreciated by millions of jewelry collectors around the world as well. Because though of different valuations, it is important to ethically disclose the sale of a lab-grown diamond as such, and not as a natural stone (which would be fraudulent).




Our visitor expressed her concern that future purchases abroad may also contain lab-grown stones, as these are almost always impossible to distinguish with a loupe alone.

The reception of lab-grown diamonds here in the Philippines, is still quite mixed at the current time. Laboratories like Gemcamp neutrally test all faceted stones brought to us (loose or mounted into jewelry) in front of their owners, for better peace of mind.

This comprehensive article talked about many things within the diamond industry, but probably the most notable section was chapter 6 - “Recent developments in the lab-grown market” which was the spotlight statement we read on the JCK December article. Below, we have a quote from the Bain & Co. report, regarding the matter of lab-grown diamonds:

“Today, it costs $300 to $500 per carat to produce a CVD lab-grown diamond, compared with $4,000 per carat in 2008.”


Further down, they elaborate on general price trend observations. (You can read the entire report here as well.) or (read the JCK article, which may be easier to digest).

“As production costs have dropped, retail prices have followed. The retail price of gem-quality lab-grown diamonds nearly halved in the past two years, while wholesale prices dropped threefold. Prices are expected to decrease even further as production efficiencies increase, new competitors enter the market and the segment commoditizes.”



There is an enormous hype around lab-grown diamonds, with US-based millennial seeming to lead the current demand pool. Despite this, there is an equally large sector of the population that expresses uncertainty about the product class. We don’t really know how the value trend of lab-grown diamonds will pan out, as here in the Philippines, they are just beginning to emerge in larger quantities and carat weights (since early 2018). Much of our industry relies on the information provided by forecasts and reports from international trade firms.

This recent report for the Antwerp World Diamond Centre may cause concern for worry among the supporters of lab-grown diamonds. On the opposite side though, the reception for these products continues to grow, and we may see more lab-grown diamonds here in the Philippines by 2019. Our visitor base is still divided over whether these diamonds are investment worthy or not, but we clearly explain that a lab-grown diamond is still a diamond by chemistry. The difference between a lab-grown diamond and a natural stone at this point in time, is origin and overall price (both wholesale and retail prices of created diamonds are substantially lower than natural counterparts).

A diamond is a diamond, and lab-grown stones have the same hardness and brilliance as their natural counterparts, so if you're worried somebody will come up and say "Ah, that diamond is lab-grown", there is virtually no possibility of that happening (unless they already know, or are bluffing, or your diamond is much older type of HPHT stone with metallic inclusions). The latest lab-grown diamond synthesis method- CVD growth, can create diamonds with or without tiny inclusions, but their products are almost always non-diagnostic to make a separation between natural and lab-grown. You would need advanced spectrometers, like the ones we have here at Gemcamp for proper testing. Normal thermal or electric conductivity testers (DIY diamond testers) will not help with this specific separation.


Going back to the topic, a diamond is usually purchased not just because of its physical beauty, but also because of its rarity and investment value. These two things are very tricky issues to consider when considering to purchase a lab-grown stone. Although we as a laboratory are neither in favor nor in resistance to the usage of lab-grown diamonds as proposal gemstones, in terms of rarity- the technology to produce lab-grown diamonds is (and will continue) to become more accessible and affordable in the future, thereby allowing more people to create man-made diamonds which may possibly affect how their prices will fare over time. In the 1800's, lab-grown ruby and lab-grown sapphire were first created by August Verneuil (a french chemist). Today, you can find these lab-grown gemstones for a a few dollars per carat at most marketplaces. Some retailers may sell them for 100 or so dollars per stone with proper marketing. These stones have the same physical beauty as natural rubies and sapphires, but the only difference is that they were made by human beings, so why are their prices so different? Well, they're not rare anymore. People from all over the world are now creating rubies and sapphires on the commercial-scale, and this supplies the demand for cheaper, costume jewelry.

We're not commenting that we know the future of diamond and man-made diamond prices, or the relationships between them. We're simply giving you a look into this fast-changing topic of interest. Supply and demand, the popularity of lab-grown diamonds is rising, but the number of suppliers worldwide is also rising with the continuing ease of their creation technology. It's up to the buyer whether he is for- or against- investing in a lab-grown diamond. They are after all, still very beautiful products. They are as hard and as brilliant as natural diamonds. These symbolical characteristics are important for the idea of marriages and proposals. If you're looking to use a diamond because of these traits, then a lab-grown stone will not be any different. Then again, if you're looking to use a diamond because of its story- like how this rare stone was mined out from deep beneath the earth, or how it formed millions of years before you were both born- then maybe you should go for a natural stone. In the end, it is an issue of interest, divided by many diverse opinions. Some people don't even use diamonds at all. Princess Diana's main engagement stone was a marvelous blue sapphire that captivated the entire world with its vivid blue hue.
Note that the current prices of natural diamonds are also higher than the prices of lab-grown stones. This may be a factor in your selection process as well. Natural diamonds have been around for a long time, but man-made diamonds are a relatively newer class of product.
Feel obliged to ask us more about lab-grown stones during your appointment sessions.

Here we'll just briefly discuss some of the commonly misunderstood concepts observed in the local trade. Now, certain people may already be aware of these, but it seems that every now and then some people express confusion regarding what many terms mean, and what they don't mean. This short article should give you a bit of insight (and trivia) about gemstones and jewelry.


1. 'Emerald Cut' refers to a specific cutting style and shape, not necessarily or specifically to the emerald gemstone itself. Most diamond collectors may be familiar with the popular term 'emerald cut', but some people are not aware that this term refers to how a gemstone (diamond or any other) is fashioned and polished into a rectangular shape with step-cut (four sided) facets on its body. Emeralds themselves, are very often cut in this rectangular style, because of the way their crystals grow, and the intention of gem cutters to save the most weight. Today, many other gemstones, such as aquamarine, diamond, amethyst and quartz are frequently fashioned as 'emerald cuts'. This specific cutting style is well suited for stones of high clarity, or stones that tend to form elongated or columnar in nature.


2. Rubellite is not ruby. We've come across a few parties that previously believed rubellite to be a form or type of ruby. This is simply not true. Rubellite is a trade named color variety for red to pinkish red tourmaline. Both tourmaline and ruby maintain very differnet gemological properties, and prices. Ruby is traditionally much more expensive than rubellite tourmaline, given a situation where color intensity and clarity levels are generally equal.


3. The term 'synthetic' is different from the term 'imitation' or 'simulant'. A synthetic gem refers to a man-made counterpart of that gem, with the same essential crystal structure and chemistry. A synthetic diamond, is still made of carbon, crystallized in the cubic crystal system for example. This is in stark contrast to an imitation gem (also called a simulant gem). An imitation gem merely looks like the gem it is trying to copy. Moissanite for example, is an imitation of diamond, as it is made of silicon carbide instead of pure carbon. It also grows in a different crystal system.


4. Cultured Pearls, not wild pearls, comprise a majority of all middle to high-end pearl jewelry collections in the country. Some people are not aware that over 99% of all pearls used in the jewelry industry today (especially the mid-to-high ranges) are actually cultured pearls. Cultured south sea pearls for example, are among the most expensive pearl items you can procure, with some necklaces costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. For pearls there are three categories you have to be familiar with. Imitation pearls, cultured pearls and wild-caught pearls. Imitation pearls are simply simulant items usually made of plastic or glass coated with iridescent substances. Cultured pearls and wild-caught pearls both come from actual live animals (mollusks, oysters etc), but a cultured pearl means that man has assisted the developmental stage by putting either a piece of mantle tissue or a shell-bead nucleus inside the mollusk in order for it to coat with nacre over long periods of time- to eventually form a pearl. The nacre layers are still organically produced by the same animal. Wild-caught pearls statistically speaking, are rare coincidences in nature today, and almost never come in large enough symmetrical shapes (round, oval etc.). The vast majority of fine pearl jewelry makes use of cultured pearls. (This statement does not apply for giant clam pearls, which we do not currently test at the laboratory).


5. Diamonds are not indestructible. We would not suggest that people perform any possibly-destructive test to find out if their stone is actually a diamond. Stories of sandpaper-scratching or hardness testing using rocks or other materials seem to be very prevalent among Filipinos. While diamond is the hardest mineral to 'scratch', it does maintain multiple planes of atomic weakness (cleavage). When struck in specific directions, a diamond can chip, fracture or even split in two. Thin areas of a diamond, like its girdle or culet, are also very prone to breakage. This can still happen even if it impacts with something with a generally lower hardness, if done in certain ways. Additionally, diamonds can also burn if subjected to high enough fire temperatures and sufficient levels of oxygen (because they're still carbon).


6. Proper heat treatment in rubies and sapphires is okay and an accepted part of the trade. There are those out there who detest the thought of their rubies being treated, but the vast majority (over 95%) of rubies and sapphires today are actually subjected to some form of heat treatment. It's a normal practice in the industry, and can bring out a stone's potential when done in the correct conditions using appropriate methods. While premium prices do exist for unheated stones, it's just as likely that an originally duller stone's value can eventually be heightened by subjecting it to heat treatment and increasing the overall color quality.


7. Glass-filled rubies are not nearly as expensive as natural or heated-only rubies. These items can be filled with glass in up to 50% of their composition. If someone tells you that their value is basically the same as rubies that aren't filled, you should probably do a bit of research first. Most likely you'll find that glass-filled rubies were originally very opaque-looking low-quality stones. Their durability post-treatment is also not that stable, according to many of our visitors and our own observations.


8. DIY Handheld Diamond Thermal Testers cannot differentiate between natural diamonds and lab-grown / man-made diamonds. These instruments make use of a technology that measures thermal conductivity, a property that is essentially the same for both natural and synthetic diamonds. Other testers like duo or multi testers that also check for moissanite, make use of electrical conductivity. These also cannot separate CVD or HPHT lab grown diamonds from natural diamonds. Advanced spectrometric testing is more suitable for this differentiation, which we make use of here at Gemcamp Laboratories.

It's been notoriously known that many shady manufacturers of jewelry these days tend to con people by mixing both natural and man-made stones into the same piece of jewelry. Sometimes they use a lab-created diamond for the center stone, but other times people want to hide the deception much better.

Here at the laboratory, we have seen some people bring jewelry pieces (to be examined only), where up to 34% of the melee accent-stones turned out to be HPHT lab-grown diamonds. It should be noted that most of the pieces were purchased by their owners from sellers outside of the Philippines. This can be quite a concern though, as the value of an entire jewelry piece changes once you know that many of the stones came from being grown artificially at a lab or factory. Likewise the demand for a certain piece can also change once this realisation comes into play.




Side stones are generally melee-sized diamonds, often times not getting larger than .10 carats (in weight). These stones are often overlooked by clients, however the trends in jewelry design currently favor pieces that are highly encrusted by rows and rows of pave-set diamonds. Just imagine the cost that manufacturers would save if they used lab-created stones for 30-40% of the diamond melee batch.




Man-made or lab-created diamonds, again have the same chemical composition and structure as natural stones. The words "real", "authentic" and "genuine" do not really define the difference anymore between these stones and natural earth-mined stones. Despite this though, man-made diamonds can be easily detected and separated by experienced gemologists that possess the proper scientific equipment setup.

These stones are also cheaper than their natural counterparts, by anywhere from 40-60% at wholesale, but sometimes 30-40% through retail as far as we've observed during our research trips to country fairs like those held thrice a year in hong kong.


If you're particular about whether or not your diamond is man-made or naturally mined from the earth, feel free to set an appointment with our gemologist via our facebook page. Gemcamp Laboratories use advanced luminescence spectroscopy, aside from other gemological techniques and practices to help identify if your diamond is indeed a natural stone by chemical trace-element type analysis.

Needless to say, we are also capable of separating imitations and simulants from diamond. Imitation generally means something that is not a diamond, in crystal structure and essential chemistry. The only similarity it has to diamond is in visual semblance.

The growing concern over separating man-made or lab-grown diamonds from natural ones is well grounded on the fact that this gem species is one of the hardest ever to segregate visually, even for gemologists. In fact, for stones that are grown using the HPHT (High Pressure, High Temperature) method, exposure to the trade and processes involved with manufacturing man-made diamonds allowed laboratory gemologists to take note of certain characteristics observable in grown stones. These include specific types of metallic looking flux residues, and peculiar looking growth marks that showed the difference in a stone's crystal-development history.



The HPHT method has been the staple of the jewelry industry for many years, and still accounts for the production of many of the world's man-made diamonds today. Despite this, more and more technologically advanced companies have been working on (and developing proprietary advancements) the other method of diamond growing called Chemical Vapor Deposition or CVD for short. This type of laboratory-grown diamond is much less likely to show visible traces of its synthesis today. The diamonds themselves are grown from flat sheets, by depositing material layer by layer from a carbonaceous cloud of gas (like methane).



Lab-grown CVD diamonds have finally reached the point where their colors and clarities produced can be directly comparable to those of high quality natural diamonds. While lab-grown / man-made diamonds sold on with open disclosure and honest documentation are very beautiful products, the problem lies in the sale of these stones under the guise or label of 'natural diamonds'. These are two different categories of salable gems with two different price points in the trade, and therefore should not be mistaken for one another.

For natural diamond identity checks, we combine the use of scientific spectrometric equipment with the many years of experience held by our gemological staff through their involvement in the global diamond trade. For visits to our laboratory, you can set up an appointment with us through our official facebook page.

It's no secret to the jewelry-buying community that synthetic (a.k.a. man-made, cultured) diamonds have been growing in market reach, with more and more producers creating lab grown diamonds every year. The challenge of gemological institutes grows stronger as time passes, due to the barriers of entry weakening for this industry.




(These are different from simulant diamonds, which atomically, are not diamonds at all. Simulants, or imitation diamonds are actually chemically composed of another material altogether, like moissanite or cubic zicronia. Pictured above is a simulant diamond)

Man-made diamonds on their own, present a legitimate opportunity for both buyers and sellers, IF disclosed properly. There's nothing fraudulent about selling one of these stones, as long as they are sold as synthetic gemstones or laboratory-made gemstones. The problem is, because there seems to be an influx of these products flowing into the international jewelry markets, some shady sellers try to move their items in an underhanded fashion, sneaking man-made gemstones into parcels of natural diamonds. Even store owners often fall prey to this scheme, as you need advance spectrometric equipment to detect a fake.



Despite their monetary values being very different, visually a synthetic diamond is almost impossible to separate from a natural one, even for experienced jewelers. The cause for concern is starting to hit many, as the public starts to gain awareness on the reality of this issue and what it means for security in the diamond trade.

According to news sites in the US, a subsidiary retail brand of Diamond Foundry will be shutting down their physical store in Los Angeles branch after just six months in business. The manufacturer legally produces or grows synthetic diamonds using controlled machinery.

The closure of their establishment is occurring for reasons we can only speculate from halfway around the world, but the company isn't out of the ballgame just yet. Reports say that the brand will continue with its online business activity, as they still state that fast-paced movement of their lab-grown diamond products is prevalent throughout many digital markets.

It's unclear whether the public's reception of synthetic diamonds would be similar in other localities, but the fact that these artificially made products are being sold online to millions of people across the world, should stir up the possibility of gradually diffused security in the overall diamond trade.

Are these buyers acquiring the stones for personal jewelry, or are they re-selling them to unsuspecting people who do not yet know of the technology to produce diamonds with machines? Here in the Philippines, synthetic diamonds have also made their way into our community. We actually applaud the local retailers who openly disclose their items as synthetics, but hold fear regarding the small-scale traders that may be too tempted to gain a quick buck at someone else's expense.




Hopefully the ethics and open disclosure stay true for businessmen here in Metro Manila, as the separation of natural VS synthetic diamonds is currently a fast-growing issue. Gemcamp Laboratories has already encountered several synthetic stones at our facility, some of which had owners who were not aware of their production from machines. It's a pressing matter, and we hope to always do our best in helping the Filipino people stay away from any possible fraudulent purchases.

While diamond synthesis isn't something new to the trade, it's still a hot topic all around the international jewelry industry. "Will synthetic diamonds influence the prices of earth-mined stones in the long run?". "How do we protect ourselves from man-made diamonds being peddled as natural gemstones?". There are a lot of questions that many experts are currently concerned over.



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.

Over the past few months our gemologists have had several people come up to us with a great diversity of materials, from moissanite to diamond-coated cubic zirconia, to synthetic lab-grown diamond. Many of them would say that a certain electronic diamond tester registered their item "within the diamond level", and therefore that indication supposedly led them to self-prove their item's natural authenticity.

The very first thing we would ask them (politely and respectfully) is, "If you're indeed certain about your item, and the credibility of your "automatic" tester, then why would you opt to come to our laboratory in search of further answers?". By this time, many of them would often reply something along the lines of 'taking a second opinion', or 'just having to be 100% sure of things'.



Here is a collective commentary from our gemologists who have been working in the jewelry trade for many years, even before Gemcamp's establishment as a gemological laboratory. Having been a part of jewelry companies in the Philippines, and in different parts of America, exposure to different brands and types of diamond testers was quite inevitable, and so logically tests, experiments and conclusions were drawn based on our concrete observations. These are not meant to be product reviews, so we will not be mentioning any specific brand or item, just our informed opinion of an widely marketed instrument that we have tested ourselves in many situations.

Let me begin by saying that we do have a diamond pen-type tester at the laboratory, patented and manufactured by one of the best instrument makers in the United States. It's a great tool that can help us separate some certain imitations from diamond, but even this tester is only ever used with extreme caution. Pen-type testers like these are divided into three types: Thermal conductivity testers, electric conductivity testers, and multi-type testers (both heat and electrical conductivity).

Thermal conductivity testers were the earliest ones invented, supposedly allowing people to separate their diamonds from the most prominent imitation at the time, cubic zirconia. When used properly in ideal situations, the testers would register a visual and audio signal denoting a pass or fail result for diamond authenticity.

Now, to put it plain and simple- moissanite, newer types of proprietary synthetic crystals, certain rough rocks and mineral compounds, and ALL synthetic (lab-grown) diamonds are capable of fooling thermal testers very easily, even if these are warranted to be in proper working condition. Thermal-conductivity based diamond testers can indeed designate some other materials as "diamond", even if these materials are composed of something else. This is because there are other gem-like materials that exhibit similar thermal conductivity properties comparable to diamond.

Next up, we have electric conductivity testers and multi-testers. These testers are slightly more advanced, normally being made to distinguish moissanite from diamond. A majority of diamonds have lower electrical conductivity compared to moissanite, however do note that there are both natural and lab-grown diamonds that can still fall within the same range as moissanite on some certain testers or units due to specific trace elements / impurities or from other reasons. Calibration and sensitivity on many of these testers can also often change over time (common). Despite this technology's marketing, we ourselves have seen many moissanite samples 'beep' or pass as diamond and vice versa on several electrical conductivity testers.

At our laboratory moissanite will never accidentally pass as diamond, as its anisotropic structure easily gives it away under microscopy observation by our graduate gemologists who have over a decade of experience participating in the jewelry trade. We also make use of photoluminescence spectrometry on every 'potential diamond' candidate to check if a stone's spectral absorption patterns. Moissanite will never pass this highly advanced method of testing.

We have also seen how many thermal and multi-tester readings can fluctuate in response to minor changes in the surrounding conditions, accidental contact with foreign surfaces, and even how hard you press the probe agains the material being tested. There are way too many influencing factors that could disrupt a test's performance. Likewise miscalibration is definitely something to be wary of when using such kinds of testers.

Man-made synthetic diamonds, which are also made from pure carbon, will automatically register as "diamond" when tested with any electro-thermal conductivity tester. It is important to note that this test will not differentiate natural diamonds from synthetic ones.



While we do acknowledge the thermo-electric conductivity tester or "diamond tester" to be a supportive and helpful secondary test in gemology (when used in proper calibration), no gemologist from our institution would rely on the results of this test alone, even if he or she used a calibrated and quality-assured instrument from our laboratory suite. It has never given us the confidence in consistency of results to do so. At best, instruments like these are simply used as a screener-test or secondary test for eliminating a few known diamond imitations.

Such kinds of testers are alright as supportive tests, when performed honestly and correctly, but aside from not being fool-proof for certain case situations, fraudulent sellers and individuals can make use of tricks to purposely change a tester's result. The sensitive internal wiring of many pen-type diamond testers can sometimes change over time. They can also be dismantled and altered by external parties to reflect a higher sensitivity than recommended. Many have manual calibrators that can also be manipulated in the wrong way.

Some vendors have even discovered faults in certain diamond tester units that have allowed them to exploit the pressure differences of those machines to their advantage. Applying more pressure or less pressure can sometimes affect the resulting verdict ever so slightly, giving question to their consistent accuracy relative to the motive of whoever is performing the test.

From our combined experiences in the jewelry trade, working with many of these machines, our conclusion and warning to the public is simple:

If you have no other means of testing a stone, using an electronic diamond tester (properly and in the right calibrated condition) is better than simple guessing outright. However, we do not believe that these machines are 100% consistent in any way, all of the time. We have personally observed many misreadings with a varying range of causes when utilizing such machines, most of the time from unintentional circumstances. 

We will not name any brands or models, as this post is not meant to demean the value of these instruments. They are still useful supportive tools in certain processes. These are strictly just the observations we've accumulated over the years in our industry. For melee sized stones already mounted onto jewelry, a pen-type tester may be your only applicable test in specific scenarios. Like every type of test, whether it be for refractive index, pleochroism, optic character or thermal conductivity, there are always stones that can break the mould. We cannot stress this enough:
Multiple tests must always be considered without exception, so that you can avoid very costly mistakes.

There is no 'one-size' fits all 'DIY' test, each type of test has its own important limitations that if overlooked can lead to very costly mistakes by buyers and sellers, and so it's always professional SOP to counter-check each stone with multiple applicable tests for different identifying properties whenever possible. If you are in doubt regarding the findings of your tester, do not be alarmed, simply bring your stone to a gemological laboratory (one that employs a graduate gemologist and a lab-grade spectrometer, and preferably does not engage in the buying and selling of gemstones for non-bias / objectivity).



Be sure about your stones. There is a reason that gemological laboratories caution the usage of these instruments. Always take care that you apply the right amount of pressure in an environment that is conducive to proper testing.

Thermal conductivity and electric conductivity testers are objectively unable to separate natural diamond from synthetic diamond due to their same atomic structure and composition. More advanced spectrometric instrumentation is required to determine whether a diamond is natural or man-made.

Half a decade ago, there were issues that began plaguing the international jewelry trade, hitting it's most lucrative market- diamond jewelry buyers. Synthetic, a.k.a. man-made or cultured diamonds, have been around for quite a while now, however these days the manufacturers have already mastered the quality and size creation necessary to rival the representation of most natural high grade diamonds.