October 2020 - Lab Grown Magazine

October 2020 | The Lab Grown Diamond Resource Book 16 To advertise call (888) 832-1109 | October 2020 17 Article on classification in Gem & Gemology, Summer 2009 by Christopher M. Breeding and James E. Shigley. www.facebook.com/TheDiamondFacts where the diamond discussion continues. (Graphic: ©Luxe Licensing, LLC 2020) Confirmed by Geological Sciences and GIA, Type IIa diamonds are the most valued and purest type of diamonds. They contain very little or no nitrogen atoms in the crystal structure.Type IIa white stones are exception- ally colorless and the fancy color ones tend to have a brown, purple, blue or pink tone. Type IIa represents a mere 2% to 5% of all mined diamonds on the planet.Natural Type IIa dia- monds are so rare that they can command up to a 15% premium. An example of this is the Elizabeth Taylor Diamond, formerly known as the Krupp Diamond , a 33.19-carat Type IIa diamond. NoTwo Are the Same While the LGD group likes to promote select phrases and quotes from today’s lead- ing natural diamond power players, one call to any major lab will confirm that no two dia- monds are the same, mined or grown. That’s very important and is a highly personal ap- proach to selling any diamond. We should rethink using phrases such as “lab-grown diamonds are identical to natural diamonds.”They are not. If they were identi- cal, how would you tell them apart? Moreover, Type IIa are quite rare on the natural side, but they are routine business for growers. Let’s compare Type IIa to Type Ia, which accounts for the vast majority of graded stones that nearly everyone owns. If the dif- ference is a “non-issue,”why did GIA publish a report devoted to divulging the difference in an article entitled “The ‘Type’Classification System of Diamonds and Its Importance in Gemology” by Christopher M. Breeding and James E. Shigley, published in Gems &Gemol- ogy , Summer 2009. While natural diamonds have embodied the soft romance and deep emotional appeal of earth extracted stones, lab-grown has an equally compelling angle. A person can now own a certified, perfect, virgin diamond. Let’s repeat that: a person can own a certified, per- fect, Type IIa virgin diamond. Consumers may now create their own legacy versus bor- rowing from someone else’s unknown past. It’s not one or the other. It’s both. Science Lesson Natural Type Ia diamonds make up the majority of diamonds in the market. Type Ia contains aggregated Nitrogen (N) impuri- ties, which include A-aggregates (IaA) that consist of pairs of N atoms, and B-aggregates (IaB) that are made of four N atoms around a vacancy (V).This is according to the GIA and retold with utter accuracy by any major lab. But wait, haven’t we been told over and over again that LGDs are optically and chemically the same as their mined counterparts? For the answer, look no further than the diamond’s report or certificate itself. The classification of diamond types is based on the presence or absence of nitrogen and boron (B) impurities and their configurations in the gem’s lattice. The schematic diagram included here illustrates the manner in which N and B atoms replace carbon (C) atoms in the diamond lattice.The diagrams are simpli- fied two-dimensional representations. Type Ia diamonds contain aggregated N impu- rities—including A-aggregates (IaA) and B-aggregates (IaB). Type IIa stones contain no measurable impurities, and Type IIb dia- monds have boron impurities. Add to this, all CVD lab-grown diamonds grow in one direction: up. Comparatively, ►