The main thing people think about when they think about diamonds is their value. The stone is so rare and precious that it has long been associated with wealth, class, and elegance. As such, it commands a serious price tag. In recent years, however, many people have been turning to a less costly alternative: man made diamonds. There are many out there who claim that man made diamonds are more than capable of standing up to scrutiny next to natural diamonds and that the savings are just too good to pass up. But what is the reality of this debate?
How Do They Compare to the Real Thing?
The first thing to know about man made diamonds is just how they’re made. Many people have the wrong idea about such things and picture a cheap process. But in reality, laboratories that are making man made diamonds create their diamonds in exactly the same way as Mother Nature does: exposing carbon to intense heat and pressure. The only real difference is that scientists in a lab can get the job done in about six weeks, rather than millions of years.
As far as clarity and colour go, man made diamonds can be virtually indistinguishable from their natural counterparts. Colourless man made diamonds are very easy to acquire, and this means their capacity for brilliance and luster is unsurpassed.
The Ethical Angle
One other thing that might be worth considering when you’re debating the merits of man made diamonds vs natural diamonds is the ethical angle. While many diamond sources have made commitments to curtail this process, diamond mining has a long history of worker exploitation and even brutality. For many people, such a history spoils the beauty of a natural diamond; they don’t want to think about human atrocity each time they look at a ring their loved one gave them. Man made diamonds, of course, carry none of this stigma: they are made in a lab under safe and fair conditions.
Lily Arkwright is a highly regarded supplier of man made diamonds.
