Screening for Synthetic Diamonds

Synthetic Diamond screening

Synthetic ‘lab-grown’ diamonds have become increasingly prevalent over the past few years. And their increasing availability has only been surpassed by how quickly their cost has dropped. Did you know that a synthetic diamond can cost over 90% less than the natural equivalent?

The great part of this price difference is that buyers now have more choices than ever. The downside is that you need advanced screening and laboratory testing equipment to differentiate between a natural and synthetic diamond. Unlike simulants, you can’t just look at them and tell the difference.

Fraudsters quickly realised this, and the levels of fraud involving synthetic diamonds have increased significantly. Over the past year, I have seen examples of lab-grown diamonds sold as natural with a natural price tag. Or where a lab-grown diamond has been cut and polished to match a natural diamond with a laboratory report and laser inscribed with the reference for the natural counterpart, so without advanced testing, you’d never spot it. Or where lab-growns have been cut as ‘old’ cuts and put into period jewellery. Absolutely nothing set with diamonds is safe from fraudsters.

The risk of inadvertently buying a synthetic diamond is real, so I have invested in an Exa UV spectrometer to help mitigate that risk. I am now the only independent valuer in the southwest of England and South Wales with this equipment. I can offer something nobody else in the area can; I can screen for synthetic diamonds.

Like all advanced equipment, it is not foolproof, but it is another layer of testing that will help screen for synthetic diamonds, helping to give you peace of mind.



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