“So what actually is the difference?” It is the question we are asked most often. The answer is simple: they are the same stone. What differs is where it was born, and how much time passed there. Here is the whole answer, in order.
What is identical
A lab-grown diamond is carbon arranged in the diamond crystal structure. Chemical composition, Mohs hardness of 10, refractive index, the quality of the brilliance. Every property as a material is the same as a mined diamond, and even a trained gemmologist cannot separate them by eye. International laboratories grade a lab-grown diamond as a diamond.
Five differences
| Mined diamond | Lab-grown diamond | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it forms | Deep underground, crystallising over hundreds of millions to billions of years | In a laboratory, grown over a few weeks |
| Price | Mining and distribution costs, and rarity, are carried in the price | Roughly a fraction of the price at the same grade |
| Rarity | There is a limit to what can be found | Production can be increased, so there is no rarity |
| Resale value | An established resale market exists | Little resale value can be expected |
| Inclusions | Natural inclusions appear as individual character | Inclusions come from the growth environment, and are generally fewer |
The row we would most like you to look at is resale value. A lab-grown diamond is not a stone you can sell back at what you paid. If you are thinking about converting it to money later, a mined diamond is the right choice. Leaving that vague and telling you only the good parts would not be right.
In a safe, or on the skin
So what is a lab-grown diamond for? Our answer is clear. It is for wearing.
The same budget reaches the size and quality you had been longing for. You can wear it every day without living in fear of a scratch or a loss. A five-carat tennis necklace, the kind of thing a mined stone puts out of reach, becomes an ordinary part of your life. A diamond holds a value beyond the material, and that value grows on the skin, in daily light, rather than inside a safe.
For orientation, our lab-grown diamond jewellery begins in the ¥77,000 range at 0.1ct and runs to the one-million-yen range at 5ct. Prices are shown in your local currency in our store, shipping is free worldwide and import duties are covered by us. How to choose is explored in our guide to lab-grown diamonds and in what one carat actually costs.
About certification
A lab-grown diamond is graded against its own criteria, separate from mined stones, and the report states plainly that it is laboratory-grown. There is no need to worry about one being passed off as mined. What deserves more care is telling a diamond apart from the stones that merely look like one, and that is covered in how to tell a lab-grown diamond from moissanite and cubic zirconia.
A diamond goes on shining longer than our own lives. The light of the real thing never quite survives a photograph, so please come and hold one at our gallery in Daikanyama, Tokyo. No reservation is needed.