Value of Lab Diamonds

It normally takes millions of years of natural heat and pressure to form a diamond, but technology allows scientists to create diamonds in a laboratory. You can buy one of these at a significant discount over a real diamond.

The Facts

On average, jewelry with a lab grown diamond sells for 15 percent less than a natural diamond, according to CNET News.

Function

Although both types of diamond are chemically the same, jewelers value laboratory diamonds lower than real diamonds because of the pride of owning something that took millions of years to form, rather than a couple of weeks.

Grading

The Gemological Institute of America, often viewed as the foremost authority on diamonds, will not grade synthetics. The lack of a GIA grading could lower a lab diamond's resale value.

Considerations

The method for making a synthetic diamonds produces mostly colored diamonds--a rarity in natural diamonds. Synthetic diamonds could bolster the availability of yellow diamonds, for example, and make them affordable.

Expert Insight

Lab diamonds can even fool professional gem graders. Jewelers identify real diamonds with the minuscule, identifying laser mark required by the Federal Trade Commission. To identify a lab diamond without a laser marking, jewelers need a special machine (costing anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000) that looks at the molecular structure of the diamond.