How Can You Tell a Diamond Is Lab Created?
Different types of diamonds are available on the market for different purposes. If you’ve decided to buy a diamond ring, but your budget is tight, you want the best-looking ring possible.
In this case, it may seem like buying lab grown diamonds would be an excellent option for you. However, how do you tell the difference between a lab grown diamond and an authentic one? Here are some tips on how to identify a Lab created diamond.
What Is Lab Created Diamond?
The world’s most rigid natural material is a diamond. Lab created diamonds have an artificially-grown carbon content that makes them look like their wild counterparts. But the question may arise here, are lab grown diamonds real? Lab grown diamonds are real diamonds. It’s just that they’re designed specially in a lab to make them grow uniformly.
The chemical makeup of mined diamonds and lab grown diamonds is identical. It has the same optical properties and the same crystal growth patterns. The sole distinction is that they are not mined but grown in a lab.
Using a computer, a laser, and other equipment, scientists can control the size, shape, and color to match or exceed what nature would create naturally.
However, one aspect of diamonds can be a little tricky to understand: Lab created vs. mined diamonds. It’s easy to assume that any diamond with a higher price tag must be mined. But this isn’t always the case. Many factors affect a diamond’s value, including its color and clarity. So, knowing where your ring comes from can help you determine its value.
Ways to Identify Lab created Diamond
1. Tell by Hardness
Can you tell a Lab created diamond by its hardness? Absolutely. Diamonds are measured on the Mohs scale. It starts with talc (1) at one end and a diamond (10) at the other. The number in between is called the hardness of the stone.
The harder a mineral is, the more likely it is to split when scratched or deformed by another material. For example, talc can be marked with a fingernail and will not break easily as a rock might do. Lab created diamond has a hardness of 10 on the Mohs scale. So, it doesn’t scratch as easily as talc or other minerals such as quartz or feldspar.
That’s why different grades of diamonds are graded based on their toughness and ability to resist damage from pressure or impact without fracturing or breaking apart.
2. Tell by Color
In the case of Lab created diamonds, you can tell by their color. A natural diamond will be a color that is slightly less than that of an untreated gemstone (which means it’s not as dark). The majority of Lab created diamonds are white, yellow, or gray.
If you suspect that you have a Lab created diamond, it will likely be one of these colors. Impurities in their crystal structure cause the different colors of diamonds. A Lab created diamond will have a lower clarity grade than a natural stone because it has no flaws.
Lab created diamonds do not have the same color as naturally occurring diamonds. A naturally occurring diamond is graded by its color using the GIA scale. Even though the 4Cs scale, used to grade Lab created diamonds, is not as well-known as the GIA scale, it is still simple to distinguish the color differences between natural and Lab created diamonds.
Another way to tell if a diamond is Lab created is by looking at the color of its fluorescence (also known as fire). The darker the fluorescence, the more likely it is that you’re looking at a natural diamond.
3. Clarity
Clarity is a critical factor in determining whether a diamond has been Lab created. A lab-made diamond usually has a clarity grade of VS2 or better. While a naturally mined stone only has clarity grades of SI1 or better, it can be a significant indicator because most mined diamonds have clarity grades lower than VS1.
The highest grade of diamonds is known as “fancy” diamonds because they have been cut and polished to perfection. Fancy diamonds are also known as “eye clean,” meaning they have no inclusions or imperfections.
It can be seen from the stone’s top, side, or bottom. The second highest grade of diamonds is known as “inclusion-free” or “ideal clarity,” which means that there are no inclusions visible to the naked eye.
Another way to tell if your diamond is Lab created is by looking at its dispersion. Dispersion refers to how well a diamond reflects light in all directions, including down through its internal structure. Diamonds with a high dispersion will reflect light more evenly than those with lower dispersion.
If you were to hold up two diamonds next to each other, one would look brighter than the other because it has a higher dispersion rating (the higher the number, the better). If you hold up two diamonds with equal dispersion, they will have the same color and brilliance level. They have been created using the same process and recipe to achieve that high dispersion rating.
4. Cut
The easiest way to tell if a diamond is Lab created is by looking at the cut. A real diamond will have visible facets on all sides of the gemstone, making it shine like fire when lit up properly.
The shape and polish of a lab-made diamond are not as natural as that of a mined diamond. This is because labs use computer-generated software to design the shape and size of their diamonds.
5. Seller Certification
Examining the certificate is the simplest way to determine whether a diamond was created in a laboratory. The diamond has a GIA number and other identifying details, as you can see. On the certificate, some labs will even print the name of the business and the total number of points. However, this is not foolproof because numerous businesses share names and phone numbers.
Final Thoughts
Lab created diamonds are created in a lab, but this does not mean they are inferior to mined diamonds. They have the same quality and beauty as mined diamonds, but they come at a significantly lower price than mined diamonds.
The color of a diamond is an important part of its appearance. Clarity and cut grade are also important factors, but they don’t always appear in a diamond’s color. A yellowish tint indicates that you’re looking at a Lab created diamond rather than one that’s natural.
