Whether you're for or against the recent hype on lab-grown diamonds, the product's presence is undoubtedly increasing in many parts of the world. From our own experience, 2017's roster of visitors to the laboratory consisted mostly of people needing to separate moissanite from diamond. A handful of lab-grown diamonds were also seen as well as, but most of the year's requests centered on differentiating diamonds from their imitations.



Photoluminescence analysis and spectrometry-based testing instruments help our gemologists detect and separate a majority of natural diamonds from potentially man-made counterparts (HPHT, CVD), however not everyone is properly informed on what lab-grown diamonds are, and the means needed to detect them.

Note that standard 'DIY' diamond or jewelry testers (those that are thermal and electric conductivity based) cannot separate lab-grown diamonds from natural ones. This is because lab-grown diamonds are made up essentially of carbon atoms crystallised in the isometric / cubic crystal system, just like natural diamonds. They are essentially also diamonds by chemistry, the only difference is their artificial origination due to the efforts of human beings.



Lab-grown diamonds do have substantial value, way above the current prices of imitations like cubic zirconia or moissanite, but their values are typically well below those of natural diamonds at the current time. This is just what we've observed ourselves during visits to international trade fairs, and constitute our opinion only on the matter. From what we've seen, wholesale cost rates of lab-grown (CVD, HPHT) diamonds are about 40% to 60% lower than equivalently graded natural counterparts. Lab-grown diamonds, despite their name, should also not be confused with gemological labs (which only hold the purpose of evaluating third-party gemstones).

Lab-grown diamonds are beautiful products in their own right, as long as they are sold ethically with proper disclosure. They should never be sold as 'natural diamonds', because buyers would most definitely feel deceived regarding their origin.

Take note that many sellers on the market use the term 'real' in their marketing pitch for these diamond products. Buyers must be careful with this descriptor as it might have subjective interpretations by different people. If someone defines a 'real' diamond as simply crystallised carbon (cubic) or basically by essential chemical standards, he might advertise lab-grown diamonds under that notion of understanding. On the other hand, if an opposing person defines a 'real' diamond as needing to have come from natural geological processes, then he may not agree that a lab-grown diamond be called 'real'. It's a tricky situation, since terminologies like this are not universally understood by people exactly in the same way.



We ourselves here at the laboratory try to refrain from ambiguity, and use the two descriptive terms "natural" and "lab-grown" instead (as much as possible) when referring to diamonds. These words are much more clearly defined, so that people do not get confused about the origins of their diamond.

If the term 'real' is used, a statement of accompaniment- such as 'real diamond by chemical definition, but created artificially by man', should at least be present for better ethical transparency.

If you are purchasing a diamond or diamond jewelry and the vendor describes them only with the words real or genuine, it's always still advisable to further ask them if the diamond(s) are natural or lab-grown. This should be done respectfully of course, just to be certain that all parties understand the product on equal definitions without subjective interpretations.

On June 19th of 2019, Sheikh Hamad Bin Abdullah Al Thani through Christie's auction house put together a ground-breaking collection of almost 400 gemstones and jewel-encrusted objects for public offer. This esteemed sale may prove to be one of the highest in value of all time, in tier with the Elizabeth Taylor collection- which itself garnered around 115.9 million dollars back in 2011.



Many of the breathtaking artifacts and jewelry have a historical significance factor added to their appeal. Certain items span centuries-worth of stories, and many lots are comprised of Mughal royal objects, such as a dagger with precious jade affixed to its hilt design.

Other slightly more modern items come from the notable design houses of Bulgari, Linzeler, Lacloche and Cartier among others. Different kinds of rare and illustrious colored stones will take to the spotlight, as emeralds, rubies, sapphires and of course diamonds get showcased through the prestigious sale.



High-visibility items like the Patiala Ruby Choker- commissioned by Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala to Cartier in the early 1900's, will undoubtedly be some of the center-stage highlights. This item in particular has an estimate pegged at around 1.2 million US dollars.

Another included item that has garnered recent fame, is the elegantly named 'Mirror of Paradise' diamond, which is graded at D for color and IF (Internally Flawless) for clarity. This 52.58ct rectangular cut diamond has an estimate range of around 7 to 10 million dollars.



The collection's highlight pieces will be travelling around the world, to displays in Hong Kong, London and Geneva, as is expected of featured lots managed by Christie's. The full suite of the auction items will also be shown at the Christie’s Rockefeller Center galleries located in Manhattan.  The Al Thani Collection still holds around 5,600 individual items, some of which will be shown in Paris starting next year, at a new museum location.

Photography Credit: Christie's Auctions, The Al Thani Collection

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.

As a proper third-party evaluation needs to be the most objective it can be, most international laboratories do not participate in the buying or selling of items they examine.




Gemcamp is no exception, our laboratory and its resident staff are prohibited from making purchases from anything brought in to the lab. We will also never offer you any gems for sale, which jewelry stores sometimes do in order to provide clients with alternative sale options after checking their items.

This is very important to remove the issue of bias. Selling jewelry may decrease the confidence of objectivity, where an owned-piece might for example, be described as sub-par compared to an item for sale.



The option for an organization to also buy off a piece of jewelry also posts the conflicting idea of: would they evaluate it honestly, if they are the ones going to buy it themselves? For these and many more reasons, laboratories like Gemcamp do not engage in any exchange of jewelry or gems. This practice in prohibition, as far as we know, is shared by other several other well-known labs around the world.



Gemcamp also does not own or operate pawnshops, loaning facilities which are becoming increasingly popular here in the Philippines. We are strictly a gemological laboratory that evaluates on a pure third-party standard.

For complete transparency in the disclosure of your items' evaluative information, we hold ourselves to the highest degree of strictness regarding this matter.