Naturally Mined or Lab-Grown Diamond: Making the Difference Clearer
Are you shopping for a diamond engagement ring, or do you have a diamond ring you are planning to resell? It is then essential to be aware that there are two kinds of diamonds: naturally mined and lab-grown. Natural mined and lab-grown diamonds are real diamonds but differ significantly in price. So, how can you separate natural mined from lab-grown diamonds?
People love diamonds because of their beauty and sparkle. But how they form, in the earth or the laboratory, holds most of their appeal. Natural mined diamonds are formed deep within the Earth’s crust over billions of years, creating a timeless legacy. It only takes about six weeks to make a lab-grown diamond by mimicking the conditions in the earth’s crust.
Lab-grown diamonds have increasingly been popular over recent years. However, the most information people know about lab-grown diamonds is that diamond formation in labs replicates the natural process in the earth’s crust.
Experts say the average person can never separate a mined from a lab-grown diamond. The differences between mined and lab-grown diamonds are invisible to the naked eye. If you place a naturally mined diamond and a lab-grown diamond side by side, it would be impossible to tell the difference. Only a trained and expert gemologist can distinguish the difference in growth structure and inclusions.
Lab-grown diamonds can typically cost up to five times less than mined diamonds. However, they are physically, visually, and chemically the same. They have the same sparkle, clarity, color, and carat weights. Since both diamonds have similar physical properties, both will pass the authenticity test in a diamond tester. They can also be cut in the same shapes.
Natural mined and lab-grown diamonds are identical in hardness and scoring (a 10 on the Mohs scale, which is the highest value because of their exact physical and chemical composition. Mined and high-quality lab-grown diamonds are graded based on the exact specifications and standards (color, clarity, cut, and carat).
The grading certificates for naturally mined diamonds are from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). Lab-grown diamonds’ graded reports are from the International Gemological Institute (IGI), the standard for lab-grown diamonds.
Since the differences are not visible to the naked eye, here at Buckhead Jewelry Appraisers in Marietta, Georgia, I will demonstrate how to distinguish a naturally mined and GIA-certified diamond from a lab-grown diamond.
In the video below, I, Robert Hurt, will demonstrate how a typical jewelry store diamond tester will indicate that a naturally mined and lab-grown diamond test exactly the same. Thus, there will be no distinction between both diamonds.
On the other hand, the more sophisticated $6000 GIA ID 100 readings differentiate a naturally mined diamond from a lab-grown diamond. This is the only machine expert gemologists trust to tell the difference between naturally mined and lab-grown diamonds.
The readings of this sophisticated machine are so reliable you can take your diamond to the GIA for a backup test and get the same results. Bring your diamond to Buckhead Jewelry Appraisers and sit down with me to determine whether you have a natural mined or lab-grown diamond.