During a recent trip through Singapore, an article in The Straits Times caught my attention. Since this article was in The Straits times, which is not exactly known for sensationalism, I decided to pay attention. The article essentially posed a question whether the cartel controlled diamond industry (mostly controlled by De Beers) was at risk of a major shakeup because some company in the US had managed to manufacture real diamonds through the use of machinery by replicating (and fast forwarding) the process it takes Mother Nature to produce diamonds. While manufacturing of diamonds has been possible for some years now, there were technological limitations to the size and purity of diamonds that could be produced. This new manufacturing process has enabled the creation of larger diamonds (over 0.5 carats in size) at high purity which is the real news here.
Wow! Now, this is big news when you reflect back to what happened to the pearl industry when cultured pearls appeared on the scene over a 100 years ago. A whole new industry mushroomed; cultured pearls flooded into the market and prices of pearls crashed. I can now buy a nice-looking cultured pearl necklace for less than $50 in San Francisco’s Chinatown and you can’t tell it apart from an all-natural pearl necklace (assuming such a thing even exists today.)
Intrigued by this article, I did a simple Google lookup and found a company called Gemesis based out of Florida. Gemesis is the company that manufactures real diamonds through a new technique using machinery they purchased from Russia someplace. What was fascinating was their claim that there is absolutely no difference between a diamond they manufacture and a naturally occurring diamond since their manufacturing process pretty much replicates what Mother Nature does to produce diamonds. And, because they can control the manufacturing process, they can consistently manufacture superior quality diamonds (clarity, color) than what nature can produce. In fact, not even experts can tell the difference between one of these manufactured diamonds and a naturally occurring diamond and diamond certification institutes like GIA also certify these manufactured diamonds for the 4 C’s!
Needless to say, I had to check this out. I went to Barons Jewelers, a diamond jewelry store near where I live in Oakland, CA, and was completely blown away by these manufactured diamonds. For one thing, I had never before seen spectacular colored diamonds (in yellow). It turns out the current manufacturing process can only produce colored diamonds – which is extremely rare in nature and also highly prized. These manufactured diamonds glittered brighter than the natural ones (because of superior color and clarity). Sizes above 1 carat were GIA certified similar to their natural cousins. The only way I could tell the difference was by reading the laser-engraved of the manufacturer’s name along the lip of the manufactured diamonds under a microscope. There really is no other way to tell the difference!
Further, as you would be guessing, these manufactured color diamonds are much lower priced vs. their natural counterparts for the same 4 C’s. Not cheap, but, much, much more affordable if you are shopping for high quality color diamonds. I was told that the company has just started to manufacture clear diamonds. If these colored diamonds are any indication, there goes the market for clear diamonds as well!
I am sold. I think the end of the high-priced cartel-driven diamond industry’s future is near. I am not buying high-quality diamonds any more. They are going to only get better and cheaper soon. Besides, manufacturing diamonds also is sustainable and eco and human friendly (wrt blood diamonds.) I wish a quick end to the cartels and long live manufactured diamonds!
