USA: Cheaper synthetic diamonds on sale this holiday season despite mixed feelings of shoppers and retailers

Record ID: 827588

  • Title: USA: Cheaper synthetic diamonds on sale this holiday season despite mixed feelings of shoppers and retailers
  • Date: 22nd December 2009
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) SHOW WINDOW WITH SYNTHETIC DIAMONDS' JEWELRY ON DISPLAY DIFFERENT JEWELRY WITH SYNTHETIC DIAMONDS (SOUNDBITE) (English) PHILIP MAZOR, VICE PRESIDENT OF PHILMAR JEWELERS, INC. SAYING: "To purchase a natural diamond like that would be 20,000 (USD) plus. which would cut out a big market of purchasing a yellow diamond. Most people, especially in these times, would love to own a yellow diamond but they would be not able to afford it, so it's affordable luxury, what it basically comes down to." BRACELET WITH SYNTHETIC DIAMONDS SHOW WINDOW OF A JEWELRY STORE SIGN SAYING "HOLIDAY SALE ALL JEWELRY 30 - 50% OFF" (SOUNDBITE) (English) CATHERINE LACIE, JEWELRY SHOPPER SAYING: "Especially now with the economy that's a great thing. I feel that you get a lot of purchases off of that, because it is cheaper, and you get more for your money that way so, I think that it is a good thing coming out now". (SOUNDBITE) (English) LAN PROTO, JEWELRY SHOPPER SAYING: "That's okay, if it is dictated by finances, that is fine. A gift is a gift, that is all that counts." (SOUNDBITE) (English) GAIL AUDER, JEWELRY SHOPPER, SAYING: "When it is lab created. well I feel that it is not inherent or intrinsic of the value of the diamond. it is still, I would still have to come to that conclusion." (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED JEWELRY SHOPPER, SAYING: "More value, you're investing in me. It's an investment piece, so I would not want somebody to buy me something fake." SHOW WINDOW OF JEWELRY STORE DIAMOND DISTRICT OF NEW YORK CITY
  • Embargoed: 6th January 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Fashion,Lifestyle
  • Reuters ID: LVAAFF2364D4RWSH7T7ALL3E9IXI
  • Story Text: The holiday season is also the wedding engagement season, and with synthetic diamonds entering the market, these cheaper stones are posing a possible threat to the traditional diamond industry. Dealers and shoppers in the New York diamond district are divided on the merits of the new "perfect" stones.
    Although the recent financial downturn has affected the sales of the global diamond market, gem-cutters are still spinning their cutting wheels to polish their rough stones up to the perfect, brilliant cut. But the gem this man is polishing does not come from a diamond mine in Botswana, Sierra Leone or South Africa, but from a laboratory in the United States.
    Gemesis Corporation located in Sarasota, Florida has been growing diamonds in their facilities since 2002. Unknown to the wide public, they specialize in vivid yellow and orange color diamonds, that are extremely rare in nature.
    "A diamond is created, it is carbon. It's created by mother nature, under thousands of pressure under the earth through hundreds of millions of years before it reaches the surface. In a laboratory where they are grown by Gemesis it is grown by a four to five day period," said Ronnie vander Linden, partner and wholesaler of Gemesis lab-grown diamonds in New York.
    A finished synthetic stone sells for about a third of the price of the mined gems. And according to vander Linden, the lab-grown synthetics are identical to the stones coming from the Earth's mantle.
    "Absolutely the same, just like a natural diamond, it has a grain, you plan it the same way, and as you can see around here, there are many steps to plan a diamond," he said.
    But despite the incentives, most retailers of the Diamond District in New York City still do not sell the man-made product. Anthony Ianelli, a diamond dealer with thirty years of experience says that it is the meaning behind the gems that counts, something that lab-grown stones just don't have.
    "I mean not fake in the sense that it is synthetic or something like that. To me it doesn't have the meaning, as when somebody gives that to a person, to give that type of a gift to a bride, or a future bride. To me, it's not the same deal," he said, adding that he does not plan on dealing with lab-grown diamonds any time soon.
    But when put them next to each other, natural and synthetic diamonds are virtually identical. Tom Moses, senior Vice president of the Gemological Institute of America verifies that the man-made stones are real diamonds, and that differences can only be seen under specialized microscopes and UV light.
    "The physical, optical and chemical properties are the same. However, the synthetic diamond is grown in a laboratory, in a few days, and due to the differences in the growth conditions, there are differences in the growth structure some of the other physical properties that allow discrimination between natural and synthetic diamonds," he said. And even these microscopic differences are only noticeable to the trained eye, and a regular consumer would not see the difference.
    "Again the hardness is the same, so it takes the same polish and luster so to a regular consumer there would be no obvious differences," Moses added. Synthetic diamonds gained credibility in 2007 when the institute started grading the stones, similar to the way they grade natural diamonds. The reports they give out for lab grown stones are yellow, instead of white for the natural diamonds.
    There are two ways to create a synthetic diamond and Gemesis uses a technique that imitates the intense heat and pressure under the Earth's mantle. Another technique is to reproduce the conditions of space, where diamond seeds are put into vacuum chambers and sprayed with gas containing carbon. After a few days, the seeds grow out to a rough stone ready to be polished.
    Gemesis has put out polished stones since 2002 on the market, and their business has grown approximately 30% each year until 2007. And despite the skepticism, some retailers are carrying Gemesis' signature yellow diamond jewelry, such as Philmar Jewelers in New York. For Philip Mazor, Vice President of the company it was the friendly price tag that made him come on board.
    "To purchase a natural diamond like that it would be 20.000 plus, that would cut out a big market of purchasing a yellow diamond," Mazor said, pointing at his display window. "Most people, especially in these times, would love to own a yellow diamond but they would be not able to afford it, so it's affordable luxury, what it basically comes down to," he said. Mazor offers his yellow man-made diamonds for around 7000-8000 dollars, which is less than one-third of the price of a natural stone.
    Shoppers on the street have mixed feeling about the man-made diamonds. Again, the cheaper price tag is the most attractive incentive.
    "Especially now with the economy that's a great thing. I feel that you get a lot of purchases off of that, because it is cheaper, and you get more for your money that way so, I think that it is a good thing coming out now," said Catherine Lacy, a shopper in New York.
    "That's okay, if it is dictated by finances, that is fine. A gift is a gift, that is all that counts," answered Lan Proto when she was asked if she would mind a synthetic diamond.
    But jewelry shopper Gail Auger says that she still prefers a natural stone over a lab-created one. "When it is lab created, well I feel that it is not inherent or intrinsic of the value of the diamond," she said.
    One shopper, who declined to give her name, said that she would turn down her boyfriend if he were to propose with a man-made stone.
    "More value, you're investing in me. It's an investment piece, so I would
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