Much has been made about the low resale value of lab-grown diamonds. Their lower cost relative to mined diamonds is one of their selling points, but along with that lower price comes a lower resale value. And if their resale value is lower than that of mined diamonds, lab-grown diamonds must not be a good investment. But the fact is, this problem isn’t unique to lab-grown diamonds. Mined diamonds, and gemstones and jewelry in general, don’t have much resale value. Loose diamonds aren’t a great investment either, as their price is volatile and they do not reliably appreciate in value.

Luxury jewelry is a major purchase, but it is not analogous to buying a house. Most of us buy a house not just to have shelter from the elements, a comfortable place to rest, and somewhere to keep our stuff; we buy a house as an investment, under the assumption that it will be worth more in 20 years than it was on the day you purchased it.

We see our house as an investment, and the same could be said about some hobbies. You might collect first-edition books, vintage guitars, fine wine, rare coins, or works of art with the understanding that having these objects not only gives you a sense of satisfaction now but a source of income later. If you have some disposable income and you’re not interested in investing in the stock market or reliable assets like gold bullion, copper, or land, these kinds of investment will be fun now and put money back in your pocket later.

There are other costly purchases we make that we don’t expect to appreciate in value. When you purchase a luxury car for $50,000, you don’t expect to sell it in five years for $80,000. At best, its diminished value will cover the down payment on your next car. But the fact that a car depreciates in value the second you drive it off the lot is not really a factor in whether or not you buy a car. You buy a car first of all because unless you live in a dense urban area with great public transportation, it’s just a necessity of modern life. But if you’re going beyond the basics of getting from point A to point B, you are considering the happiness a certain car will bring you: how comfortable it is, how nice those heated seats are in winter, how fun it is to drive, how good the stereo sounds, how nice it looks, how it might communicate something about your personality and taste, how great a family road trip will be. The same is true of a boat, a 90” 4K UHD TV, or a designer suit or dress.

No one views a new car as an investment. It ought to be the same with a diamond. You buy a diamond ring because it’s beautiful and because it serves as a symbol of a relationship meant to last a lifetime. If you’re planning on spending your life with someone, why would you worry about an engagement ring’s resale value, or even what it’s going to be worth tomorrow? It will still be just as beautiful and meaningful whether the price of diamonds goes up or down.

If you’re just looking to buy loose diamonds as an investment, you’ll run into a different set of problems. When you buy a diamond at retail price, you’re paying more than it’s worth. Retailers buy diamonds from wholesalers, who in turn buy them from manufacturers, who ultimately buy them from mining companies. The marked-up price of a new diamond includes the services of everyone involved in the supply chain, as well as the costs of paying employees and rent. And when it’s time to sell that diamond, you’ll receive less than it’s worth. The jewelers or the coin and gold buyers you’re selling that diamond to need to make a profit themselves, so whatever they pay you for it will be significantly less than what they will turn around and sell it for.

Another factor to consider when investing in diamonds is the volatility of the diamond market itself. Diamond prices rose steadily throughout the early 2000s until the 2008 recession, then increased quickly before falling again in the 2010s. Prices are rising again, but they’re still not back to pre-pandemic levels. And even when diamond prices were rising sharply after the 2008 recession, they still lagged far behind gold, silver, and platinum, all much more reliable investments. In the retail sector, diamond prices are dropping, and only the top luxury brands—companies like Tiffany and Bulgari—are seeing price increases. In those cases, prices are reflective of name brand status rather than the actual market value of their diamonds.

In the future, though, anything can happen—and that’s the problem with viewing diamonds as an investment. Increasing demand amid tightening supplies could see the price of diamonds rise. Lab-grown diamonds might also upset the mined diamond market in unpredictable ways. So it’s not just that lab-grown diamonds are a poor investment. Diamonds in general are an investment fraught with risks, and they are certainly not something you can purchase and quickly flip for a profit. You’ve got to be in it for the long haul, and you have to have an understanding of the market and the industry as a whole if you are to buy and sell at the right times. Diamonds do not appreciate in value, and resale prices are always lower because the jewelers buying used diamonds are also looking to make a profit. So rather than buying any type of diamond as an investment, it’s best to focus on what a diamond means to you now: an enduring symbol of a lifelong relationship, or a luxury purchase meant to be enjoyed.

The diamond industry has long been plagued by environmental concerns and ethical issues, leading many consumers — particularly among Millennial and Gen Z — to feel uncomfortable with mined diamond purchases. Lab-grown diamonds can be an excellent alternative for these buyers, but it's important that you tell the right story and not inflate the sustainability aspect of lab-grown, in order to create and keep trust with these new generations of jewelry buyers.

For consumers who are uncomfortable with mining of any kind, it’s important to have an alternative for them to  consider. But what can you say - and what should you avoid - when speaking to the environmental impact of lab-grown diamonds?

It’s safe to say that these diamonds are made in manufacturing facilities similar to the manufacturing environments that produce all types of goods for home, business, and industry. If your customer’s interest is purely that they do not want to buy something that is extracted from the ground, then this may be sufficient information for them — particularly if you are setting their diamond in recycled gold. 

If your customer wants to know if lab-grown diamonds in general are more responsible than mined diamonds, that’s more difficult to answer. It’s important to share with them honestly that lab-grown diamonds require a lot of electrical power to grow. Some lab-grown diamond companies are certified as carbon neutral, taking steps to use only clean power for production and offsetting their carbon footprint. So in general, it’s not safe to claim that lab-grown diamonds are universally more responsible than mined diamonds, though on a case-by-case basis they may be.

If your customer is concerned about human rights, lab-grown diamonds have less human and social impact, because they don’t damage water systems, cause deforestation, or commandeer  land that belonged to someone else. But presumption of social responsibility is never safe - not just from a lab-grown diamond supplier, but from any manufacturer. It is important to work for greater transparency in all production of consumer goods, and to never make a promise about working conditions that is not backed up by some form of certification or verification.

What if your customer is mostly concerned about price, and is skeptical about what a grower has to “do” to keep prices so low? In this case it’s easy to explain that lab-grown diamonds are less expensive than mined diamonds because they are produced in a manufacturing facility. The cost of setting up diamond production is only a fraction of the cost of finding a new source of diamonds and setting up mining operations, and the quality and size of diamonds produced is also highly controllable. So prices are low because diamonds in the desirable range of size and quality are reproducible.

When we encounter something new and wonderful - like lab-grown diamonds! - we tend to get very enthusiastic about selling them. It’s important to stay grounded in truth when talking to customers, and understand what can and should not be promised. The last thing you want to do is score a big sale, only to have an angry customer come back after doing her research and feel like you deceived her.

The introduction of lab-grown diamonds to the diamond market may leave some consumers confused as to what they are actually getting when they purchase a lab-grown diamond. This is especially true as lab-grown diamonds become more and more affordable. In addition to being marketed under different names such as “synthetic” or “cultured” diamond, lab-grown diamonds may be confused with diamond simulants such as cubic zirconia. But the two are not the same. The difference is that lab-grown diamonds are chemically identical to mined diamonds, while cubic zirconia is a different substance entirely. Let’s get into exactly what that means.

A diamond, as you probably know already, is a mineral composed of about 99.95% carbon. Graphite and, to a lesser extent, coal are also mostly composed of carbon, but the difference is that in a diamond, intense heat and pressure have crystallized the carbon atoms into a three-dimensional lattice structure. Various other elements may comprise the other 0.05% of a diamond, and it's those trace elements that determine the color of a diamond: when nitrogen replaces carbon in parts of the crystal, you get a yellow diamond and the presence of boron leads to a blue diamond.

The process by which a flat chain of carbon atoms is restructured into a cubic crystal requires a great deal of heat and pressure. The heat and pressure required—1300°C (2400°F) and pressure 240,000 times the pressure found at sea level—occurs in the upper mantle, 150 km (90 miles) deep.

What are Lab-Grown Diamonds?

Throughout the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, scientists gained a more thorough understanding of the chemical composition of minerals and the geological processes that created them. In the 19th century, scientists like Henri Moissan hypothesized that the sort of heat and pressure required could be reproduced in a laboratory. Using the new electric technology of the day, he claimed to have grown diamonds.

Early attempts at growing diamonds resulted in stones too small and too brown to be of any value—if what was being created were diamonds at all and not a substance like silicon carbide. It wasn’t until the invention of the belt press that the dream of growing diamonds that were both useful to industry and gemstone-quality became a reality.

The belt press, invented by General Electric engineer Tracy Hall in 1954, produced temperatures of over 1600°C and 1.5 million pounds per square inch of pressure. This temperature was much lower than the 3500°C of Moissan’s electric arc furnace, but the pressure was far more than anyone in the late 1800s could have imagined possible.

The technique GE used to grow diamonds, called High Pressure, High Temperature (HPHT), did not produce diamonds large and clear enough to be used as gemstones until the 1970s. Around the same time, the Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) method began producing gemstone-quality diamonds. CVD grows diamonds at lower temperatures and pressures than HPHT by sealing a diamond seed in a chamber full of hydrocarbon gas. The chamber is then heated by microwaves, which breaks the hydrocarbon gas down into hydrogen and carbon. The carbon then bonds with the diamond seed, building a diamond crystal atom by atom.

Why “Lab-Grown”?

The result of both the HPHT and CVD methods is a crystalline mineral of almost pure carbon. A mineral composed of 99.95% or more carbon is a diamond, whether it was grown in molten rock under extreme heat and pressure in the upper mantle, in a gas-filled chamber heated by microwaves, or in the pressure of a mechanical press. For this reason, diamonds produced this way are referred to as “lab-grown” rather than synthetic. The term “synthetic” denotes a material produced by synthesis (combining two or more different substances) in order to imitate another substance. Lab-grown diamonds don’t imitate diamonds; they are diamonds. And since the methods produce actual diamonds, they are not “imitation” diamonds or “diamond simulants.” “Lab-grown diamond” is the most accurate way to describe the product of these processes.

What is Cubic Zirconia?

While lab-grown diamonds are chemically identical to diamonds, cubic zirconia (CZ) is a different substance altogether. Its brightness and clarity, not to mention its affordability, make it a great diamond simulant. But it is susceptible to dulling over time due to the accumulation of dirt. Nevertheless, it is almost indistinguishable from diamond to the untrained eye. But overall it is a far less durable stone. While diamond (both the mined and lab-grown kinds) rates a 10 on the Mohs hardness scale, the hardness of CZ is only 8. Nothing will scratch or chip a diamond, but CZ is likely to scratch, chip, and turn cloudy over years of daily use. This is because CZ is not a diamond but zirconium dioxide (ZrO2). It occurs rarely in nature; the cubic zirconia used in jewelry is synthesized by combining zirconium oxide powder with magnesium or calcium at 2750°C (4,982°F).

Whether your reasons for seeking an alternative to mined diamonds are about affordability or ethics, both cubic zirconia and lab-grown diamonds are both great alternatives. But only lab-grown diamonds are actual diamonds, with the same hardness, clarity, color, and unmistakable sparkle you expect from a diamond.

There seems to  be a bias in the jewelry industry to think about lab-grown diamonds as a budget alternative for young people in the marriage market. To be sure, a lab-grown diamonds provide the opportunity for a big, beautiful ring at a significant discount from a mined diamond - and it doesn’t hurt that nobody can tell it’s lab-grown just by looking at it.

But to focus entirely on this market for lab-grown misses an important demographic: the over-40 female self-purchaser. 

Ideally, a woman’s jewelry wardrobe would include a suite of diamond basics beyond the engagement ring and regardless of marital/engaged status:

• 1.00 carat diamond studs
• 2.00 carat diamond studs
• Diamond hoop earrings
• Solitaire diamond pendant
• Cocktail diamond pendant
• Straight-Line diamond bracelet
• Diamond cocktail ring

But such a suite is beyond the purchasing power of many women, and many women of means still find it difficult to justify buying diamonds for themselves and wait for gifts for meaningful life milestones.

Many women find it increasingly interesting to buy some of the elements of the ideal diamond suite for themselves, rather than waiting five and ten years between life events to receive them as gifts. They can always replace their lab-grown diamonds with mined diamond gifts later, while having  the option to enjoy their diamond jewelry throughout their adult lives.

If you’re not selling lab-grown diamond jewelry as part of a jewelry wardrobe to mature women, you’re missing a tremendous opportunity. When this client walks in your door looking for something special, don’t hesitate to ask her if she has all the diamond basics in her jewelry wardrobe, then show her how exciting it can be to add those pieces for herself, on her own timetable.

Lab-grown diamonds (LGD) have been widely available to consumers since about the mid-2010s, and for a number of reasons, they are becoming a popular alternative to mined diamonds. Their lower price is certainly one reason for the interest in LGD, but it may also lead consumers to believe that LGD are of lower quality than mined diamonds. You’ll often read that both mined and lab-grown diamonds have the same chemical composition and optical properties, but what exactly does that mean? Let’s talk about the differences and similarities between mined and lab-grown diamonds (and there are far more similarities!), and how one could go about telling one from the other.

What Is a Diamond?

The definition of “diamond,” according to the Federal Trade Commission, is “a mineral consisting essentially of pure carbon crystallized in the isometric system.” So while for commercial purposes anyone selling a diamond must clarify whether the diamond came out of the ground or a laboratory, the two types of diamond are essentially chemically identical. The two instances of “essentially” in this paragraph might seem like a weasel word concealing vast differences, but when the FTC says a diamond is ”essentially” pure carbon, they mean that a diamond is about 99.95% carbon. Trace elements and other compounds that get trapped inside the crystal during growth comprise the other 0.05%. This is true of both mined and lab-grown diamonds, and in many cases, lab-grown diamonds are more pure than mined diamonds.

Trace Elements and Inclusions

The trace elements found in diamonds are typically nitrogen and boron because of the ease with which these elements bond with carbon. Nitrogen can give a diamond a yellow tint, while boron turns a diamond blue. Mined diamonds contain more nitrogen than lab-grown diamonds, but since lab-grown diamonds can also be yellow (or any other color that diamonds can be), one cannot conclude that a diamond is a mined diamond just by looking at its color.

Both mined and lab-grown diamonds contain inclusions. An inclusion is any material trapped inside the mineral during growth, usually tiny pockets or bubbles of gas or liquid, though it’s not uncommon to find other minerals or crystals trapped within another mineral. Since lab-grown diamonds are grown in a molten metal solution, lab-grown diamonds tend to have more metallic inclusions, though the presence of metallic inclusions is not exclusive to lab-grown diamonds. Part of the art of growing diamonds involves reducing inclusions, as they can diminish the clarity of the diamond.

Fluorescence

When exposed to ultraviolet (UV light), about 35% of mined diamonds exhibit a phenomenon called fluorescence. Colorless lab-grown diamonds never exhibit fluorescence, but fancy-color LGD do. So while not all diamonds exhibit fluorescence, a colorless diamond that does exhibit fluorescence is most likely a mined diamond.

Is fluorescence a desirable characteristic? Whether fluorescence adds to or detracts from a diamond’s appearance is up for debate. While blue fluorescence can cancel out a diamond’s yellow tint and make it appear colorless, strong fluorescence can make a diamond appear hazy, lowering its desirable clarity.

Growth Morphology

Every crystal exhibits a particular growth morphology depending on the type of crystal and the solution in which it grows. Both mined diamonds and lab-grown diamonds grown using the HTHP method, grow in a molten solution mostly composed of iron. For CVD lab-grown diamonds, the solution is a hydrocarbon gas.

The different solutions these different types of diamonds are grown in results in different crystal shapes. Mined diamonds grow in an octahedral shape (an octahedron is an 8-sided polyhedron: picture two pyramids back to back). Diamonds grown using the HPHT method grow into a cuboctohedron, or a 14-sided polyhedron whose faces are a combination of hexagons and squares. Finally, diamonds grown using the CVD method grow into a cubic shape. If the diamond is already cut, of course, you won’t be able to tell what the shape of the rough diamond was, and lab-grown diamonds can be cut into any shape a mined diamond can.

Optical Properties

When we talk about the optical properties of gemstones, we are referring to the way light interacts with the stone. Optical properties are broken down into brightness, fire, and scintillation.

• Brightness: the reflection of white light
• Fire: the scattering of white light into other colors
• Scintillation: the sparkling pattern of light and shadow on a gem’s face.

These factors depend on the gemstone’s cut. A mined diamond and a lab-grown diamond of the same size, color, cut, and clarity will exhibit the same optical properties. Given this fact, there would be no way to tell if a cut and set diamond were a mined diamond or a lab-grown diamond.

Infrared Spectroscopy

It would be reasonable to conclude from all of this that most people probably couldn’t tell the difference between a mined diamond and a lab-grown diamond. They both have the same chemical composition, they both can contain inclusions, and they both exhibit the same optical properties, the presence or absence of fluorescence doesn’t tell us anything definitive, and though the rough crystals grow in different shapes, the cut and polished end products are the same. The average person looking at your ring won’t ever know—that is, if they’re even aware of the existence of lab-grown diamonds.

One of the only truly reliable ways to tell the difference between a mined and a lab-grown diamond is to have a gemologist conduct an infrared spectroscopy test. Different elements absorb different wavelengths of light. With a spectroscope, a gemologist can analyze the wavelengths of light that are absorbed by the gemstone to determine the presence of elements other than carbon. It can also determine the exact concentrations of these impurities, which will differ depending on both the type of diamond and the origin of the diamond.

The Differences? Not Many.

Aside from an expensive spectroscopy analysis performed by an experienced gemologist, you’d be hard-pressed to tell a mined diamond from a lab-grown diamond. The bottom line is that lab-grown diamonds have the same unmistakable character and the same durability as mined diamonds. Whether you buy mined or lab-grown diamonds comes down to personal preference and budget. But no matter what kind of diamond you buy, you should make sure to receive a grading report. All Primo Lab-Grown Diamonds come with an IGI grading report detailing the origins and quality of your diamond.

One of the things we sometimes hear retail jewelers tell customers is that they should avoid lab-grown diamonds  because they won't hold their value. Let's take a look at the false premise behind this statement.

Let's start by recognizing that diamonds — mined diamonds — are cheaper now than they ever were in the past. One thousand years ago, only kings and high priests were allowed the privilege of owning and wearing diamonds, and today diamonds are available to the masses. This is because before the mid-1300s, diamonds were found, but not mined, so their occurance was quite rare. 

But in the 1800s, when DeBeers unearthed a massive diamond source in Kimberly, South Africa, diamonds became the subject of one of the most successful advertising campaigns in history, "A Diamond is Forever."  Suddenly it was not only possible for every groom-to-be to put a diamond on his bride-to-be (for just the price of two months salary!!), it became culturally expected that he do so. In 1953, GIA came up with a grading system to level the competitive playing field for diamonds and shore up trust in the diamond business. Jewelry stores around the world built entire departments around the engagement ring experience. Savvy merchants created "trade-up" programs, so the young groom who could only put a half carat on his bride's finger for the engagement could trade up to a 1.0 carat stone on their five-year anniversary, and a 1.5 carat stone on their ten-year anniversary. And merchants started talking about the smart "investment" of owning a diamond to young men who needed something more than romance to spur them to buy the biggest diamond possible.

Only, diamonds weren't actually an investment. This was just a salesperson's claim in the process of trying to get a young man to spend a bit more. Yes, diamond values have gone up and down over time, but as a relative holder-of-value, the value of a diamond has consistently trended down, not up.

Does this mean it's not a good idea to own diamonds? Absolutely not!

Consider this. Have you ever heard someone refer to a ruby or an emerald as an investment purchase? Of course not! And rubies and emeralds are considerably more rare than diamonds.

Our point is not that diamonds are a poor investment. It's that nobody should have ever offered the argument of diamonds as an investment in the first place! To a King in the 11th Century a diamond may have had monetary value, but since then diamond mines have been found all over the world, and there are more than enough diamonds to support all jewelry and industrial demand. We have more than enough diamonds. Mined diamonds. And this was all before lab-grown diamonds came into existence!

So when a salesperson claimed that a diamond would "hold its value," this was a sales claim not based on reality. Diamonds are no more or less likely to hold their value than sugar or corn (though they are certainly worth more). So a claim that a lab-grown diamond "won't hold its value like a mined diamond" is a claim based on nothing. 

Trade-in Value Versus Investment Value

It's better to think about mined and lab-grown diamond value in terms of trade-in value rather than investment value. Unless you're out to buy a Ferrari 250 GTO, you're not buying a car for its investment value... you're buying a car that will get you around in a style that suits you and which will hold enough value to resell or trade against the purchase of a new car in several years.

Lab-grown diamonds can be used in trade-up programs for larger diamonds (and more and more retailers are offering these programs on lab-grown!), and can be traded in at whatever the current value is against a different jewelry purchase. Just like mined diamonds. Lab-grown diamonds can be pawned or sold outright to a 3rd party. Just like mined diamonds. True, lab-grown diamonds tend to be 30% - 50% less expensive to begin with than mined diamonds, so their value will be 30% to 50% lower when you wish to sell or trade them. But there's no loss of investment value, because it was 30% - 50% less expensive to begin with.

Now, we hope we've put that silly argument to bed once and for all.

The Reason to Buy Diamonds is Because They're Beautiful

It's now customary to offer a diamond when requesting someone's hand in marriage. This isn't about investment value. This is about romance, making promises, and showing one's commitment to the world.  Lab-grown diamonds are real diamonds. They have the same physical and chemical properties as mined diamonds. For some people, lab-grown diamonds come with the added benefit of representing the excitement of technological advancement, or of not being party to the environmental and social impacts of mining. For others, a lab-grown diamond is the only way to get a diamond they can afford.

So don't hesitate to buy a lab-grown diamond because of an empty claim about holding value (and don't buy a mined diamond thinking that's a promise you can count on!). Buy a diamond — any diamond — that fits with your values, your budget, and your happiness.