August 2020 - Lab Grown Magazine

August 2020 | LG | The Lab Grown Diamond Resource Book 20 To advertise call (888) 832-1109 | August 2020 21 A 5.03-ct cushion-cut, fancy orange-pink LGD set in 14K white gold with 1.06 carats of natural white diamonds retails for US$23,990, from The Diamond Room. Orange diamonds are the second most rare mined fancy colored diamonds after red. (Photo: The Diamond Room, Texas) On 8 December 2014, Pure Grown Diamonds’ chief technical officer, Dr. Devi Shanker Misra, a physicist, former professor and inventor, cultivated a near colorless 3.04-ct, I color, SI1 clarity LGD and sold it for US$23,012. The process used was a microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) chamber from a small carbon seed. It took two and a half months to grow this diamond, which at the time of release was the largest LGD in the world. (Photo: Pure Grown) he will donate $5,000 from the ring sale to the Austin Child Guidance Center, while hinting that there is even bigger news around the corner. Russian LGD growers seem to be on their game as two of the other largest white round and largest fancy blue LGDs were created by a company called New Diamond Technologies (NDT). Expand Your Horizons Nearly 99% of lab-grown diamonds are cut in India, which, as of this writing, remains one of the world’s strictest lockdowns from the Covid-19 crisis. This means that all Indian imports and exports are temporarily halted, as the country is currently unable to receive goods to cut, polish or complete what was already in production. It is estimated that the LGD supply chain will be clipped 50% by the close of this year. That’s the bad news.The good news is there are other options such asThailand and South Korea, two countries that have not been as adversely affected by the pandemic as have the United States and the United Kingdom. Expanding your global reach and supply chain are smart business, coronavirus or not. Too often the jewelry industry follows one successful operation or model, tending to move as a group toward whatever or whoever is providing what it needs. Covid-19 has created the need for multiple suppliers and, in today’s climate, you may find highly competitive pricing, better terms, fresh merchandise and newfound trust. When the pandemic becomes yesterday’s news, those who explore such options today will be the champions of tomorrow. On the Block In a past story, I wrote that major auction houses such as Christie’s and Sotheby’s have never auctioned lab-grown loose stones or finished jewelry with LGDs before. ► www.labgrownsource.com