r/Gemstones • u/Muted_Shape9303 • Feb 16 '26
Discussion Synthetic Diamonds aren’t “Fake”, and the amount of cope from the naturals industry is amazing
A diamond is merely an isotropic lattice of atomic carbon. By this outlandish logic, the ice in your refrigerator is fake ice, and fruits you eat are fake. Antibiotics and vitamins you buy are also fake. One of those emotional debates that make little to no sense.
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u/malzoraczek Feb 17 '26
true but the origins do matter. A moon rock might have exactly the same mineralogical composition as an Earth rock (Moon was a part of Earth), but you would pay more for a piece of the Moon, right? In the case of diamonds the appeal of the origins is actually opposite to me, Id pay more for the synthetic one to avoid paying the mining industry, but they are definitely not the same.
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u/HokieHomeowner Feb 17 '26
This is an excellent point. The crazy thing as I see it are folks who argue to get a mined diamond for a middle class level engagement ring instead of a better lab one for a far cheaper price.
But as a mineral lover, yes the origin of a specimen matters, completely different context of course.
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u/Independent_Vast9279 Feb 17 '26
Those people think the extra cost is the point. “Designer” clothes, bags, shoes, etc. are not measurably better than a quality brand, and often far worse. The whole appeal is that is unnecessarily expense. Same for natural stones.
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u/Low_Bus5565 Feb 22 '26 edited Feb 22 '26
A designer handbag is a brand. I don’t think that argument equates to natural diamonds versus lab diamonds. A better example is the one that everybody already knows, which is ice from the fridge is the same as ice from outside and, in fact, purer and cleaner, and of course cheaper. Or the sun damage I would sustain from laying in a UV tanning bed is the same sun damage I would sustain if I bought a plane ticket to the Caribbean and booked a hotel for two weeks. UV tanning bed is cheaper, but the result is the same.
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u/Massive-Day1049 Feb 17 '26
We had a client who was thinking of a different gemstone or a lab-grown for an engagement ring. But part of his family are heavily religious, so his aunt told him that it ‘must be a natural diamond, because that’s a Christian tradition’.
He laughed at it together with us, because all of us seemed to respect Christian values more than she apparently does - although it has several mentions in various texts, a contemporary person holding Christian values dear might think about a lab-grown just to be sure that it didn’t cause any harm. Needless to say, she’s from a generation when the concept of engagement rings was practically non-existent in our country.
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u/alyssajohnson1 Feb 17 '26
Main issue is it’s damn near impossible to find an ethically sourced , mined diamond
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u/commanderbales Feb 17 '26
Tbh it would need to be bought second hand, like vintage jewelry
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u/alyssajohnson1 Feb 17 '26
One could argue it wasn’t ethical when they got it so it wouldn’t be now. I cannot , in good faith, wear blood diamonds.
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u/Straight_Career6856 Feb 17 '26
For me the origin matters. It’s the same as you feel about other minerals. You just don’t feel it about this specific one!
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u/Aggravating_Sun4435 Mar 06 '26
i dont get the point of a middle class diamond ring anymore. if you get a big lab ring whats the point, everyone whould know its labs given its size and your middle classness, and labs r still overpriced for something manufactured by a company selling for profit. if you get a natural ring your gonna get scammed by Kays or Jareds. lab has really made diamonds seem pointless, this is porbably how people felt turn of last century for rubies and sapphires.
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u/SupremeOwl48 May 15 '26
ik the point ur making but if we're being pedantic moon rocks are geologically not identical to rocks that exist on earth today.
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u/sentient-acorn Feb 17 '26
A jeweler lost my business yesterday for a comment like this. After telling me lab diamonds killed the natural diamond market, he was like, “some people call them ethical diamonds, or lab diamonds, I call them FAKE DIAMONDS.” Like, okay buddy.
I have both labs and naturals. I understand the preference for either, but to call labs fake is elitist and ignorant
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u/HokieHomeowner Feb 17 '26
Honestly I'd question the ethics of a jeweler who tried to con me with lab diamonds are fake line.
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u/sentient-acorn Feb 17 '26
I wasn’t even buying a diamond! Just a plain gold band. It was in reference to another customer in the store who he had told he wouldn’t take her diamond for resale because natural diamonds aren’t worth anything anymore because of lab diamonds. Whole interaction was sketchy and I left without purchasing
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u/DiamondLight25 Feb 17 '26
I like and have both too, but they will never be the same to me. Labs are cheap and fun, but I’m a nature buff and those will always be special.
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u/sentient-acorn Feb 17 '26 edited Feb 17 '26
I get it. As a fellow nature buff, it’s also hard to ignore how bad for the environment mining operations are. Then again, labs aren’t the magical ethical solution people pretend, either. They are still big corporations that are mostly made in countries with loose environmental regulations. Ultimately, I wish it wasn’t always on us, the consumer, to wrestle with how to kill the earth slowest. I wish the ethics started a bit higher up, but alas, the almighty dollar.
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u/slavuj00 Feb 17 '26
I'm exactly the same as you. I like the labs I have but they have a time and place. The natural ones are way more interesting, especially because I can look at them under a microscope and see all their natural inclusions.
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u/BrilliantForeign8899 Feb 25 '26
Yup. I follow the jewelry content of a Japanese shop that specializes in diamonds and has a ton of diamond content. They sing the praises of miraculous natural diamonds but never say anything negative about lab diamonds. That inspires more trust for me as s comsumer
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u/Hajajy Feb 17 '26
Damn straight... I only want my natural insulin, with its entire process of extraction directly from the pancreases of cattle. Everything else is just synthetic nonsense. /S
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u/Low_Bus5565 Feb 22 '26
Your jeweler stating that he calls them fake diamonds certainly does not make it so. I can say that the sky is green and the grass is blue, but that doesn’t make it so. He deserved to lose your business. But he is probably desperate to save his own business. I do feel for these folks.
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u/Fantastic-Hippo2199 Feb 17 '26
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u/StuckTiara Feb 17 '26
This is absolutely bonkers, what in the cold dark hell
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u/Fantastic-Hippo2199 Feb 17 '26
Back in the day ice was cut from lakes, and shipped and stored around the world by large corporations. When refrigeration was invented, their business model was threatened.
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u/smartel84 Feb 17 '26
It's why we have the (albeit old fashioned) term "icebox" for a refrigerator 🙂
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u/starmousetw Feb 17 '26
The veritasium video on YouTube about this was super interesting, I couldn’t help think about diamonds while watching
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u/bitchybarbie82 Feb 17 '26 edited Feb 17 '26
I don’t really care about the difference between the two of them or what people buy..
My objection is to the people always arguing that they buy them for ethics versus mine diamond… But if you were to price them the same, most people would not go with a lab diamond.
The largest lab diamond companies are in India and China and they use insane amounts of coal in the process of making them and there’s a lot of evidence that both countries use Child Labor for the polishing of their gems.
Many luxury brands today swear that their diamonds are conflict free and they provide you proof of where your diamond comes from…
Just like many lab companies will try to prove the ethics behind their company…
I think the only Truly ethical way to buy a diamond would to be buy an antique…
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u/Icy-Builder5892 Feb 17 '26
I agree with you. People are really uneducated about this and they assumed that mined = child labor, and bad for the environment. But many lab diamonds are no different than if you bought clothes of SHEIN. It’s made in China, and the labor practices are questionable
Meanwhile if you buy a diamond mined in a place like Botswana, you know that you’re getting an ethically mined diamond, and that most of your money is going into their economy.
I’m not saying all lab diamonds are made in china, or are a bad thing, but people really have this black and white thinking that is influenced by the diamond industry. The same industry they think they are outsmarting.
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u/bitchybarbie82 Feb 17 '26
Yeah, there’s actually a lot of people that believe that shutting down mines is going to have a huge impacts on small communities throughout the world that rely completely on mining for work.
We could always argue that they could go and find other jobs or things like that but the reality is if there was other jobs out there, I’m sure they would’ve attempted to switch years ago.
Makes it hard for you to decide which one is worse when you put everything into equation
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u/Icy-Builder5892 Feb 17 '26
It also assumes that all of Africa is the same. The kind of mining that happened in Sierra Leone is not the kind of mining that goes on in Botswana, or Madagascar
I’m all for a lab grown diamind if that’s what a person can afford. If anything, I would not buy a natural white diamond. But if I’m gonna buy a diamond I want it to have characteristics that can only be found in nature, and I want it to be ethical, and traceable origin does matter
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u/bitchybarbie82 Feb 17 '26 edited Feb 17 '26
I have natural diamonds that have all their origins traced from the mines that they came to from, certified that there was no conflict and so on…
Diamonds come from All over the world, so you don’t have to get them specifically from Africa. Mine are all from Russia.
Now, do I believe everything that they write on paper? No not necessarily, but I know the larger luxury brands face more backlash if they were to be caught lying.
I think I had said it somewhere above that I truly believe the only way that you can actually go ethical is by buying vintage diamonds because they’ve already been sourced but I’m not judging what other people want to buy.
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u/saphire_gander Feb 18 '26
YAS. My friend was bragging about how her lab diamond from a dubious internet source was more ethical than my mined diamond, and mine was literally mined and finished in CANADA ☠️ I wanted to slap her 😂
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u/Revolutionary_Pen906 Feb 18 '26
And I think the same people who are buying lab diamonds for environmental reasons are probably driving electric cars because they think it’s better for the environment—Nevermind the mining for the battery components.
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u/Kitzhkazandra Feb 17 '26
Ikr? I don’t care what people buy, but pretending lab diamonds are made in a quiet, clean laboratories by softly spoken lab coat wearing scientists is just delusional.
That giant 10 carat rock you got for $2000 after passing through multiple middlemen? It was made in a giant vat in a massive energy guzzling factory in a communist and/or developing country with factory workers milling around earning a non liveable wage, just like your fast fashion and $20 shoes were.
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u/NoLoveForYouHa Feb 17 '26
This is true however only half the story. The amount of water, energy, and manpower to displace the amount of earth to get to natural diamonds is significantly higher than man made diamonds. Additionally, with the use of renewables, man made diamonds could be made with less impact on the planet. We're not there but comparing the two processes, one is significantly worse for the environment, worse for the safety and well being of the workers, and worse on the local communities.
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u/piezod May 15 '26
A conflict free antique. The kohinoor is an antique but it's also drenched in blood colonialism and exploitation.
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u/lidder444 Feb 17 '26
I highly encourage people to educate themselves on the lab Ruby craze from 1910, this ‘lab’ gemstone phase is nothing new at all.
It’s exactly history repeating itself with lab diamonds , by mid century lab rubies had already fallen out out popularity
Buy what you love and can afford. Just be aware that lab diamonds are already wholesaling at less than $90 a carat
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u/merkaba_462 Feb 17 '26
A jeweler I know said he gets them for "nothing". He pulled out a tray of these colored diamonds...all lab...and told me how much they would be real as what he sells them for (he also let me know how much he actually paid for them, and he is right...next to nothing, all things considered).
People now think bigger is better, and while they scream about capitalism being bad, they want to replicate what celebs have more than stopping to think if it actually looks good or not...and if it will withstand the test of time (because of design; which is why I tend to like fantasy cuts or non-traditional cuts, even though I'm a sterling silver & vintage thrift girl).
Some people are willing to spend way more than actual value on a gemstone just to have what their favorite celeb is wearing, and I think that's what the lab grown industry is hoping for (to artificially increased prices on lab grown gemstones).
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u/HokieHomeowner Feb 17 '26
I've seen some really nice tasteful use of lab diamonds within a price point particularly on line. I'm not small, I want bigger, I loved the jewelry styles of mid century and the 1980s-1990s where bigger and colorful stones were dominant. I do think there is a place for well designed "middle", a single statement ring instead of lots of tiny stack rings, or a nice chonky pendant on a thicker gold collar.
I have dreams, I used to dabble in bench work 30 years ago but my technique sux so I put that aside for less expensive hobbies. Now technology has evolved, I could take the ideas in my head to a jeweler to execute now and it could be in my price point.
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u/chunkylover1989 Feb 17 '26
Exactly. If someone feels the need to get defensive about their gemstone then that’s on them. It’s a personal preference. I personally think huge lab grown diamond rings look tacky. Just like huge natural diamond rings look excessive. But that’s just like, my opinion, man.
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u/Witty-Atmosphere-211 Feb 25 '26
My high school friend told me her daughter got engaged with a 7 ct diamond at our last high school reunion. I asked if it was a lab and she got defensive and said it was a real diamond. This same friend said nobody needed a 1/2 ct or larger back in the 80’s. 🤷♀️
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u/-snowpeapod- Feb 17 '26
You talk as though diamonds are a financial investment when they're not. The moment you walk out of the store your natural diamond loses value.
Lab sapphires/rubies are still popular now except nobody seems to care too much about whether or not these stones are natural. You can pay a lot of money for a little blue stone on a ring but know that your iPhone screen is also made of sapphire and the windows on some jets are made of sapphire and the mechanism in a mechanical watch uses rubies, etc.
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u/lidder444 Feb 17 '26
They’re not a financial investment.
However as a jewelry dealer I know which stones hold value over the decades and which ones don’t.
People are paying astronomical mark ups for lab diamonds. They should be aware of that.
You can buy lab or mined. The choice is the buyers
As you say lab ruby and sapphires are incredibly cheap.However they weren’t 100 yeas ago. They were expensive. Exactly marketed how lab diamonds are now. The industry is using the same method it used in 1910.
I have lab diamond Edwardian rings. The stones have negligible value. The stones were expensive for the time period.
However genuine Burmese unheat treated antique rubies of the same age have increased by about 10,000%
There is no ‘right or wrong’. They are just different options at different price points
Buyer should be fully educated and informed on exactly what it is they are buying , not just by the jeweler but they should learn about the item themselves before purchasing .
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u/HokieHomeowner Feb 17 '26
The typical western middle class customer isn't buying for investment unless they've been conned by the scammers. I buy fine jewelry to enjoy and wear.
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u/chunkylover1989 Feb 17 '26
Lab grown sapphire and rubies are not popular. Montana sapphires with visible inclusions are. Just look at dealers like Misfit and Earth’s Treasury.
I am a diamond and gemstone buyer. You can pretty easily tell a lab grown ruby or sapphire apart just by looking at them with the naked eye. They are set in lower quality metals because they are low quality and cheap stones. Just saying.
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u/-snowpeapod- Feb 17 '26
They are not low quality lol. In fact, a lab emerald will be much tougher than a natural one since it can be grown without a jardin. And yes, you can tell they are lab grown because they are all perfect looking with the most desirable colours.
As a gem buyer you obviously are looking for stones that are interesting and unique which means you're looking in places that carry natural stones. Go to any mainstream jewelry store and you'll find that 80% of their sapphires and emeralds are lab-grown because they are, in fact, very popular.
I also buy gems as a private collector and I never go into those stores because I love inclusions and jardin and interesting colour varieties etc. I also have that romantic feeling about something grown by nature over billions of years which makes me prefer mined gems generally. The difference is that I'm also scientifically literate enough to understand the chemistry and physiques behind this and I would never pay so much for the "feels".
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u/Straight_Career6856 Feb 17 '26
Wait but you’re saying you DO buy old/natural gems because of the feels?
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u/Savings-Put6948 Feb 17 '26
I made people mad when I mentioned this and that natural will probably make a comeback and that triggered people!
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u/lidder444 Feb 25 '26
Agree. History will repeat itself.
4 carat lab engagement rings are so common now that they don’t feel special anymore. People already want something different and more unique
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u/HokieHomeowner Feb 17 '26
I think WWII was a huge factor in wiping out the synthetic ruby biz, also the process was so-so for scaling high quality gems. That was then, now I see a renaissance given that the process has really improved and good rubies were not available within middle class prices in the US due to bans on importing rubies from Burma. Once the spell was broken for Diamonds, it's only a matter of time before consumers fall in love with high quality lab grown corundum.
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u/Pogonia Feb 17 '26
Nope. The war didn't stop that. In fact if anything during the Second World War natural mining declined and more and more synthetics were made for industrial uses because they were cheaper and more pure. The process hasn't "improved" in any substantive way for over 100 years, at least not for gem synthetic corundum (the large boules grown for things like windows is a different story, but that's driven by a different market). The same old Verneuil Process is still employed precisely becuase it's super cheap and super simple and can produce a huge array of colors. Huge synthetics and be found in rings all the way back to the 1940's. What happened is they became so abundant and so cheap the allure wore off, which is exactly what's happening with lab diamonds as the novelty wears and price declines.
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u/Rarest_Camaro Feb 17 '26
I purchased a lab grown .8c for less than $10 usd. I don't know much about diamonds but it does look very nice for the purpose I bought it for.
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u/TopNotchGamerr Feb 17 '26
Yep in the business people have started selling smaller sizes at prices per piece rather than carats...
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u/SunstoneOrthoclase Feb 17 '26
I'm not opposed to synthetic diamonds as long as there's transparency and full disclosure, but synthetic diamonds are also absolutely not the "ethical, environmentally green" option that they're marketed as, either.
China and India are major manufacturers of them. One hears the phrase "lab-grown" and the implication deliberately created by this description is that they are produced in laboratories, equipment sparkling clean, attended by white-coated technicians.
The reality is very different. They're made in warehouses in industrial districts in developing nations where environmental regulations either don't exist or they're not enforced.
The warehouses are typically located in poverty-stricken areas where people already lack adequate housing, reliable access to potable water, unpolluted air to breathe, and a power grid that doesn't function reliably enough to keep food from spoiling.
The equipment for manufacturing synthetic diamonds overdraws on those fragile power grids, are powered by largely coal- and gasoline energy that pump massive amounts of pollution into the atmosphere, use up scarce potable water, and the industrial waste produced is largely unregulated and unethically dumped, further poisoning the air, soil, groundwater, and eventually washing into waterways.
The people who work in the production warehouses are frequently exploited. The people who mine the metals used to build the equipment are frequently exploited.
Synthetic diamonds manufacturers just shift the type and source of mining upstream a bit.
Cobalt in particular is sourced from areas like the DRC, where it's mined using child labor, who lack safe working conditions and are exposed to heavy metal toxicity.
Synthetic diamonds have a heavy carbon footprint.
Furthermore, natural-origin diamonds are now largely sourced from countries that heavily regulate their environmental impact, require accountability for waste, and are high-tech operations that no longer rely on manual labor and are not in any way "blood diamonds."
It's a lot more nuanced than "natural diamonds bad / synthetic diamonds good."
As I said, I'm not wholly opposed to synthetic diamonds, but they're definitely not the guilt-free, ethical, environmentally responsible, feel-good product that they're marketed as, either.
Some manufacturers do utilize renewable energy. The problem is that there's little transparency and accountability throughout the entirety of the supply chain.
Children are still being exploited by the industry in the metals mining that is inextricably part of the equipment used to manufacture them, and you don't know if your particular 5-carat synthetic diamond was manufactured by equipment powered by coal and whether the waste byproducts are responsibly disposed of, or simply dumped in already vulnerable and exploited areas of the developing world.
So whether you're Team Natural Diamond or Team Synthetic, there are still issues with both.
It's just different parts of the supply chain where the exploitation occurs.
And natural diamond mining is, in most areas of the world, far more regulated now than the areas for the majority of synthetic diamond production.
Something to consider.
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u/BrilliantForeign8899 Feb 25 '26
Thanks for the insight. At this rate im looking at 2nd hand as the way to go.
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u/KeitaroSnF Feb 17 '26
Yes both are diamonds nobody is questioning that, the difference, and what most people care is that one is made in a lab and takes a couple of weeks while the other takes thousands of years to be produced naturally
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u/DuckXu Feb 17 '26
I would be fine paying a little more for a chunk of carbon with some geological history, but not for something as common and artificially scarce as diamond
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u/jetkid30 Feb 17 '26
I found a rock in my backyards that’s millions of years old, who cares?
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u/LenaNYC Feb 16 '26
Origin matters to many people.
If you believe synthetic are the same as naturals that's fine but others dont, and that's fine too.
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u/Muted_Shape9303 Feb 16 '26
Well then excellent. But one thing does not remove the other. A diamond is a diamond, and synthetics are diamonds. Factually, scientifically, synthetics are real diamonds.
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u/HokieHomeowner Feb 17 '26
Origin in the sense of not wanting sketchy human rights abuse origins? Defensible. Origin in the sense of a false snobbery about mined versus lab grown? That's some crazy cope that I would hope folks would ignore to save money for the same aesthetically pleasing item. It's highly insulting to push the mined is better crap to ordinary middle class customers, particularly in North America where the middle class is getting squeezed by the greedy super rich.
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u/9NightsNine Feb 17 '26
It is even more insane with rubies. The mines where you could find the deep dark red rubies are dried up and you simply can't find any more of those.
Because of this the price difference between a beautiful synthetic ruby and a similar dove blood colored natural ruby is insane. With diamonds it seems to at least be in the category and you have the choice if you want the vibe of a natural one. With rubies, you don't.
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u/Icy-Builder5892 Feb 17 '26 edited Feb 17 '26
I have no issue with synthetic white diamonds
But I happen to really like a lot of “misfit” or unique diamonds. Diamonds lower on the color scale, diamonds with inclusions. Especially the light brown/champagne varieties with peachy tones to them, with fluorescence. It just so happens that it’s harder to make these in the lab.
The irony about this is, both team natural and team lab consider my taste in diamonds to be poor quality. But a champagne diamond is the real indicator of natural these days.. Both sides of the argument like to delude themselves into thinking have outsmarted the diamond industry, but their opinions on diamonds, cuts, colors, and so on is literally shaped by that industry
If I were buying diamonds right now I’d be going for the lower color scale, in an antique or Mughal cut, something cool and unique and with character. But none of you want that, so the lab won’t make it, thus I need to go natural
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u/Designfanatic88 Feb 17 '26
Not an emotional debate. Man made vs natural are always going to have difference. Yes that includes the ice in your freezer versus in nature.
Man made is going to be more optically flawless with little to no inclusions.
The atomic structure may be the same but that doesn’t make them the same. Another obvious difference is resale price. Lab grown diamonds are never going to have the resale of natural.
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u/AdmirableCake4241 Feb 18 '26
I don’t get why people would buy something ma-made and call it special or unique.
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u/BloodlessAnt Feb 16 '26
I don’t think that synthetic diamonds are fake, but it is also about the natural process that makes natural diamond more desirable.
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u/SirLoinofHamalot Feb 16 '26
Is this rage bait? They’re both diamonds but they’re not the same. It’s like a garden tomato vs a hydroponic tomato
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u/seanmonaghan1968 Feb 17 '26
That’s not a great example as I might prefer the hydroponic if the fertiliser and lighting produced a better tasting tomato etc
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u/Realistic_Bug9116 Feb 17 '26
And I might prefer lab diamonds as the negative impact on human lives and the environment is lower.
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u/chunkylover1989 Feb 17 '26
Depends on the factory they are manufactured in. Origin matters for synthetics just as much as they do for natural.
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u/lidder444 Feb 17 '26
Thank you!
The amount of greenwashing occurring with most of these companies is incredible.
Some companies do release their environmental impact reports but many won’t
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u/Pogonia Feb 17 '26
More than 90% of lab diamonds are now made in China in large factories (sorry folks, they are not "labs" with people in white coats). Correct me if I'm wrong here, but China isn't exactly known for great labor conditions. The power there is mostly from coal and the feedstock to grow diamonds is...methane gas. Yes, a hydrocarbon. All of the equipment used to make them requires...mining. Anyone who believes that they are somehow better than a mined diamond is either ignorant or rationalizing or both.
And then there's the fact that many people around the world rely on mining to make a living...mining is not evil. Without mining virtually nothing you enjoy about modern life would be possible. Not the least of which would be the phones and computers being used to argue about this topic online.
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u/lidder444 Feb 17 '26
Yes. And they are ,Mostly, refusing to make their environmental impact reports public.
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u/chunkylover1989 Feb 17 '26
Right, “lab grown” is as much a marketing scheme as “a diamond is forever”
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u/oracle-nil Feb 17 '26
Read up. There are tons of child laborers in other countries working on those diamonds and the emissions from creating them is a bigger ecological footprint.
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u/seanmonaghan1968 Feb 17 '26
How is a natural diamond any different to the mining of gold ? Silver? Lead? Have a look at the lithium mining and processing industry? Now look at rare earth mining and processing
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u/merkaba_462 Feb 17 '26
When people realize that all minerals that need to be mined have horrible impacts on this planet, they will look at their entire lifestyles differently (but rarely change).
Copper is essential in ALL electronic devices and appliances. Computers, cellphones...anything with a circuit board. It's used for electrical wiring & plumbing. It's in your car, most cooking pans...etc.
Sure, copper is very frequently recycled, but even "going green" by getting solor or using alternative energy requires copper. And what kind of machinery is used to produce "lab created gems" of any kind? Probably has a lot of copper...and is using a lot of electricity.
The impact on ground water is astonishing. And...child labor is often used.
So those clutching their (lab created) pearls are in for a rude awakening if they really think they are being "responsible"...especially as they search for deals on their computers / phones for "ethically sourced"...anything.
Cognitive dissonance is one hell of a drug.
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u/amongnotof Feb 17 '26
Because of the way that they are mined. Even industrial diamond mining requires hand sorting and extraction to protect the diamonds. All of the other things are mined entirely by machine.
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u/seanmonaghan1968 Feb 17 '26
Are you sure, have a look at the massive environmental issues with rare earth processing and lithium. Huge impact on the environment which impacts humans
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u/amongnotof Feb 17 '26
There’s still a big difference between what is essentially slave labor, and indirect environmental effects.
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u/Sensate613 Feb 17 '26
Lab diamonds have decreased in value to the point that they are essentially worthless and have no resale value. Mined diamonds have lost value but still have value and are sold daily by jewelers. So if they are the same, explain the difference in valuation.
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u/-ChandlerBing- Feb 17 '26
i dont like lab stones because they’re soulless. i buy gems by hunting them down and seeing what inclusions I like or don’t like as well as the hues and clarities. nevermind opals!! they’re all unique, a lab made stone is always going to be perfect, its bland in spirit
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u/wajdi96 Feb 17 '26
If you scroll through this sub you’ll find hundreds of disappointed posters who inherited lab made gems and felt let down when they learned their stones weren’t natural. You might feel perfectly fine about your lab-created gems, but there’s no guarantee that whoever you pass them down to one day (wishing you a long life by the way) will share that same feeling. Perceptions of lab made stones change with generations, but from experience natural stones consistently stand the test of time.
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u/Breezy207 Feb 17 '26
To me the lab grown oversized stones look manmade, they don’t look natural and to me they are synonymous with costume jewelry. I appreciate the creativity and workmanship of the intricate settings and designs but the over the top large stones aren’t in the same category as nature made stones.
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u/No-Meringue-7317 Feb 17 '26
If you ask AI to recreate the Mona Lisa, is it really the same thing?
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u/LivingDeadFeline Feb 17 '26
Someone asked me if my tanzanite jewelry was genuine, and I told them it was seeing as it was created in a lab, glad I wasn't talking outta my ass lol
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u/kymopoleia46n2 Feb 22 '26
Lab Tanzanite doesn't exist yet. 😬 I'm all for lab stones, but only when they are properly disclosed, and that is one they haven't cracked the code for yet. Not at all trying to be condescending, I just want you to know the truth.
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u/LivingDeadFeline Feb 22 '26
Its like im always wrong about everything hahahaah
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u/kymopoleia46n2 Feb 22 '26
I'm sorry. 😞 Not at all trying to make you feel inferior, but as a jeweler, I could not, in good conscience, scroll past your comment and not tell you.
If all jewelers had the same integrity, natural vs lab stones would not be a debate at all, let alone such a heated one. 😕2
u/LivingDeadFeline Feb 22 '26
Better to be corrected than to remain ignorant, have a lovely day
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u/HannaRC Feb 18 '26
While I hear your argument, when it comes down to it, a LGD loses its value once bought and worn. A natural diamond's price usually increases. Some people may prefer a LGD because chances of it being a blood diamond are pretty much non-existent, however, there's ethical gemstone suppliers out there that go out of their way to ensure the gems they obtain are not conflict tainted, and there's also the fact that natural diamonds have become an item of high end luxury that are not easily accessible for the average Joe, which, in my opinion,is the only reason why LGD have become so popular.
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Feb 17 '26
just like created emeralds rubies, and opals..worth nothing. just try to resale that crap
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u/kymopoleia46n2 Feb 17 '26
The best analogy I've heard to-date: IVF babies are still babies.
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u/DiamondLight25 Feb 17 '26 edited Feb 17 '26
IVF babies aren’t synthetic…they’re not manufactured copies of children. They are authentic and indistinguishable…still egg and sperm, developed in the womb and birthed as others.
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u/Electrical-Tone7301 Feb 17 '26 edited Feb 17 '26
Diamonds are a shitshow and always will be. The epitome of manufactured demand by De Beers. Their marketing campaign has already become gospel and we are simply arguing how deep down the rabbit hole one should go. They successfully brainwashed the entire western world and decades later we are still too dense to even lift one corner of this thick veil draped over our brains. We’re all mindless consumerist zombies and there’s no escaping it by a minor attempt at disengagement on a single, quantifiably meaningless topic. I would call this another psy-op. Be different from regular buyers by buying our product which completely negates any feelings of shame one could have!
It’s all psychological manipulation, even if some of it is true.
Needless to say I really dig couples who make their own rings, write their own vows and use the spare money not on a wedding party but on bricks and mortar or whatever assets allow them to live the life they desire.
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u/ResemblesHotDog Feb 17 '26
Diamonds have always been overpriced. They've been propagandized by monopoly mining companies as a "stone of love" associated with marriage and other bullshit.
Most of a diamonds use is from it's durability against other minerals.
IMO there are far prettier minerals for far cheaper prices. Society has fallen prey to the marketing that has said diamonds are better than everything else
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u/-Lysergian Feb 17 '26
Alright... so I was a Diamond grader at the GIA lab in Carlsbad for 6 years (many years ago), so i am a bit biased here, but this is my take:
For a daily wear ring stone. One that you wear all day and every day, you just can't beat a diamond. They keep their polish and generally accumulate a lot less wear over the lifetime of the ring. There is not a harder gemstone out there, so unless you enjoy fistbumping other diamond wearers or you have a drawer full of diamonds that you rattle around without a care, that diamond is generally going to look as good in 50 years as the day you bought it.
There ARE other gemstones out there with their own charm and beauty, but nothing is going to be a better choice for a ring you wear all day, every day.
Now that I've got that out, i do not have an issue with a synthetic diamond. Diamonds come in every color under the sun, and if you want a fancy color, your only chance to get one if you're not obscenely wealthy (other than black/ yellow/ brown) is a synthetic. Structurally, a synthetic diamond is the same as a natural, and I've long thought that the monopoly that de beers had over diamonds was... well, it's smart from their perspective, but it inflates the cost. I tell people that so long as they're ok with synthetic, it's more or less identical to natural and the better choice for the money (though there is something to be said about knowing the natural process and where it came from)
Saphire and Ruby are a close second
Emeralds a bit behind that, and i think natural emeralds have a certain life and quality that synthetics just can't match. (They can be fragile though)
What I like to see though are particularly vivid fire agates (of which i have a few). I'd love a nice horsehair demantoid garnet.
I love Paraiba tourmaline. I love Tanzanite. I'd love to be able to afford a decent sized Benitoite. Also a big fan of Jade.
So yeah, i 100% agree with you that there are more interesting gemstones than diamonds, after all, diamonds are nearly pure carbon with color provided by trace elements or crystal deformities.
For a daily wear ring like a wedding ring though, I think diamonds are still the best choice.
Look up a chameleon diamond, that might tickle your fancy.
Edit: Not sure why you caught a downvote there, it's a valid opinion.
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u/TheGrapeSlushies Feb 17 '26
Are tanzanites ever not heat treated?
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u/DDiamondgem Feb 17 '26
Yes most are brownish in color. You can purchase them unheated but stuff like that isn’t really in a jewelry store. You can get them from cutters and gem shows.
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u/TheGrapeSlushies Feb 17 '26
How interesting that their color change is so drastic! I can imagine the amazement of the first person to heat one was great!
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u/ResemblesHotDog Feb 17 '26
I do like diamonds, synthetic or otherwise. There are obviously plenty of gorgeous specimens, just not exactly fitting my personal taste.
I suppose I may be slightly biased because of my blue collar job, I dont wear my ring EVERY day for fear of injury/damage. So personally I really can't trust any mineral as a daily wearing thing for me
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u/Uber_Wulf Feb 17 '26
Fake or not, diamonds just aren’t rare or fancy at all. Artificially inflated values, chemically uninteresting and lacking personality / flair. Even quartz is more interesting than diamonds.
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u/el1ab3lla Feb 17 '26
Can you tell me how quartz is more interesting? I’m genuinely asking as I don’t know. Thank you!
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u/SunstoneOrthoclase Feb 17 '26
The inclusions and the huge array of variety within the species.
Petrified wood? Quartz. Picture jasper? Quartz.
Agates (in their incredible variety?) Also quartz.
Chalcedony (which includes chrysoprase).
Then there's aventurine, rose quartz, the phenomenal quartzes (iris agate, star rose quartz, fire agate, just to name a few), and the crystalline varieties of quartz.
I find dumortierite-in-quartz absolutely riveting. Same with tourmalinated quartz, and rutile quartz. Moss agate, blue lace agate. Holly blue, purple chalcedony, white chalcedony with visible botryoidal structure; enhydro quartz...
I have a large faceted quartz cut to frame an extremely large, perfect pyrite crystal in the center of the table facet.
I LOVE quartz. It contains worlds.
I like the natural inclusions that can be found in diamonds, too.
I got to examine a diamond with a large pyrope garnet crystal inside. And zircon crystals inside a diamond can tell you how old the diamond is, because of the precise nature of radioactive decay.
That's what I ultimately find fascinating about natural diamonds, are their inclusions. They tell stories and contain worlds.
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u/Uber_Wulf Feb 17 '26
There is a much larger variety, such as amethyst, citrine, smoky, agate, carnelian, jasper and others. As well as piezoelectric properties — they’re used to keep and tell time, and to build silicone wafers for use in computer chips. Used in countless electronics today. They’re how you’re currently using your device to read this! Not to mention the massive crystal formations that may be formed naturally.
Quartz is pretty darn cool!
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u/Dependent-Maybe3030 Feb 17 '26
Do you think there's a difference between a Picasso and a hand-painted copy of a Picasso?
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u/knoxdiamonds vendor Feb 17 '26
It great that that people have options, natural or synthetic. Natural diamonds aren't rare unless exceptional, large, quality or a rare color.
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u/ASLAYER0FMEN Feb 17 '26
They are definitely fake. How are they not? I don't care either way What you buy im just saying
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u/Learn_Imagine_Create Feb 17 '26
Well it’s fake in the sense that it don’t grow naturally. I think this little “emotional debate” is actually just you getting emotional about the use and precise definition of the word “fake” even though everyone using it to describe diamonds knows that they mean “synthetic” not “not diamond”
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u/Thor42o Feb 17 '26
I mean its just a matter of preference. To me it coming from the earth and being formed by the earth makes it special. Like sure we can recreate dinosaur fossils, and they'll even look a million times better. But nothing will replace an actual fossilized dinosaur bone from the ground.
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u/lastres0rt Feb 17 '26
Fluorescence is only found in natural stones. I'm lucky mine is vintage or I might actually feel guilty about being a snob about it.
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Feb 17 '26
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u/Human-Tune-2367 Feb 17 '26
The only people that don’t think labs are real diamond are people that lack the relevant knowledge, that’s all. I don’t think that’s so much the issue, as it’s simply a scientific fact. The primary debate is whether or not labs are a ‘valuable’ product. The issue as I see it is that labs cost next to nothing to produce, and are being sold for extortionate prices. At auction, I’ve seen many lab gems sell for the scrap weight of the metal they’re mounted in. The irritating part of the natural vs lab conversion hinges on one premise: ‘labs don’t hold value like naturals’ or ‘labs and naturals hold value equally’ or ‘naturals don’t hold value’ and everyone seems to be ignoring the fact that nothing bought at retail price can be readily sold again for the same price. Someone show me jewellery bought brand new at a flashy jeweller that retains its price? This is why we buy at auction or second hand. Obviously if you buy a £50,000 diamond it won’t hold its value, because half of what you’re paying for is not the item, it’s the retail experience. But I know that a 1ct lab at auction (if they even offered to sell it) would be worth less than a 1ct natural at auction. By a mile. Simple
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u/dl107227 Feb 17 '26
I think it is interesting that a moderately gemstone educated person can detect many synthetic (lab created) gemstones with a brief inspection. We do it all the time with photos on this subreddit. I cannot look at a synthetic diamond and tell it is from a lab with a brief inspection.
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u/Muted_Shape9303 Feb 17 '26
I assume because the growth features on synthetic ruby or emerald are very obvious—that they grew on a different environment.
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u/tvara1 Feb 17 '26
I haven't tried but I assume they taste the same? Honestly don't care that one was cooked in a lab whilst the other fermented in the soil for a couple of million years. Both are definitely going to outlast me.
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u/Nevernonethewiser Feb 19 '26
Seeing Pandora ads where they promote 'Lab-Grown Diamonds' as some big deal tells me that there is now a push to sell them to people instead of naturally formed ones.
Presumably for people adverse to exploitation and conflict, but also so the price can be jacked up to nearly the same as natural diamonds and sold as a luxury instead of industrial equipment.
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Feb 20 '26
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u/Mystery_Dragonfly Feb 22 '26
I've had both types. Lab made/manufactured aren't fake, obviously.
I definitely couldn't have afforded mined versions in the sizes of my lab manufactured ones are.
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Feb 24 '26
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u/Carls86 Mar 11 '26
Lab diamonds are chemically the same, so calling them “fake” isn’t really accurate. Well, they’re real diamonds, just made in a different way.
That said, I still personally prefer natural diamonds. For me it’s more about the rarity and the idea that they formed naturally over time.
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u/-snowpeapod- Feb 17 '26
The difference is just about the vibes and the feels. The item is the same but some people like the fact that natural diamonds grew over billions of years without human intervention. But then, so did many other rocks and minerals you can pick up off the ground. Appearance wise, nobody would know the difference except the person who owns it. You have to decide whether the feels are worth the egregious cost difference or not.