April / May 2020 - Lab Grown Magazine

April / May 2020 | LG | The Lab Grown Diamond Resource Book 28 To advertise call (888) 832-1109 | April / May 2020 29 Q: Why can’t I get a GIA-certified lab-grown diamond? A: GIA will and does grade lab-grown diamonds.So you might ask why does almost every lab-grown diamond you see have either an IGI or GCAL certificate? It is because few growers want a GIA certificate. The reason is that GIA withholds their grades on lab-grown diamonds from the certificate, giving only a range. GIA will grade a diamond, enter it into their database, but only give a range on the certificate. The chart* below outlines how GIA grading works for mined and lab-grown diamonds. Why would you want a certificate that indicates no dif- ferential between a G and a J LGD, or between an SI1 and SI2 lab-grown diamond? G-colored diamonds clearly are more desirable and have a higher value than a J, but are not differ- entiated by GIA’s grading system, so a range is not helpful to anyone. Why does GIA show their LGD grading like this? I don’t have an answer to that, but a GIA certificate would give lab-grown diamonds greater respect and validation. I hope that GIA will one day change this policy. Q: Do lab-grown diamonds change in color? A: The short answer is no. But that is not entirely true. Lab-grown diamonds do not fade or gradually change color over time. Their color is permanent like a natural diamond. But there have been some reports of CVD diamonds changing color for about 20 minutes when exposed to extremely high temperature or high radiation. But these changes are rare and only tempo- rary, and do not occur in situations that regular people find themselves in. Q: Where are lab-grown diamonds grown? A: Most commonly, they are grown in Hong Kong/China and India. There are also several important growers in the United States, Russia and Europe. >> *Chart is courtesy of Jason Payne. Q: Will the value of a lab-grown stone plummet to the price of a cubic zirconia? A: Barring a few exceptions, diamonds are not an investment, so if we are selling them as such, then we are being deceptive to our customers. If they are expecting a good ROI on buying a diamond, they are going to be very disappointed. In terms of the future price of LGDs, no one knows. Beware of anyone who pretends that they do. Unless you have a crystal ball, answers to this question are an educated guess. This is a long and complicated question, but I will share a few thoughts about it Those who argue against LGDs maintain that if you can grow an infinite number of diamonds, then - as technology improves - the cost of growing will eventually go to zero. There is some truth to this, but it is an oversimplification and ignores a few key elements about lab-grown diamonds. ♦ It currently costs more to grow a diamond then to mine one. It is the streamlined supply chain that leads to lab-grown diamonds costing less. ♦ Growing a diamond is not like popping corn in the microwave. You can’t just put a diamond seed in, push a button and come back to a nice shiny LGD. The process requires very advanced machinery that needs to be run by highly skilled workers at large facilities. All of this requires a very significant investment. ♦ Costs to cut, polish andwholesale a diamond are the same for both mined and lab-grown, and account for the majority of the cost of a diamond. Even if growing a diamond cost $0, all of these other costs are still incurred, and could become more expensive in the coming years as labor costs in India and China increase. ♦ There are different opinions on this, but there are reports that diamond mines will be empty by 2045 if we don’t start finding more deposits. If so, this could greatly increase the demand for lab- grown diamonds. ♦ Just because you can create an infinite amount of something does not mean the value will go to $0. Over time, supply will match demand. For example, phone manufacturers could flood the market with cell phones. They could spend vast amounts of money and build lots of factories. They could make enough phones for everyone to have several each. However, this is highly unlikely because doing this would cause the demand, and therefore the price, of phones to plummet. Most companies would go out of business until supply and demand begin to balance out. I am not saying that LGDs will not drop in price because they already have. So have mined diamonds - and at a similar rate to LGDs recently. These are a just a few points to consider when deciding if lab-grown diamonds will one day be priced like a cubic zirconia. ■ Eternity bands are available in all popular sizes & carat weight Visit our website www.unreal.diamonds view our prices and all the other programs we offer BOOTH 4146