by eClarity | Jun 7, 2022 | Uncategorized
Can you tell difference between labgrown and natural diamond?
Natural diamonds are grown 90-120km beneath the earth, with high pressure and high temperature, presence of carbon, diamonds are formed. Whereas on the other hand, labgrown diamonds are formed in a lab with a very similar environment with high temperature and high pressure.
They have the same physical and chemical properties, same scale in Mohs Scale of Hardness, same visual properties. It is almost impossible for a layman without any gemological knowledge to look at the two and be able to tell the difference.
For someone who has advanced gemological knowledge to tell the difference, is to look through the microscope and understand the visual difference between an earthy mineral, and a below the earth minerals, the microscopic inclusions. The specific knowledge is even beyond a normal gemologist, this goes to show how difficult it is to differentiate natural and labgrown diamond. Having said that, it is written clearly on the diamond reports by GIA and IGI the two most reputable laboratory that issues report for natural diamond and labgrown diamonds, whether it is natural, or labgrown.
eClarity would like to present an analogy, let’s say if natural diamonds are a baby, then labgrown diamonds are an IVF Baby.
Are natural diamonds more expensive than labgrown diamonds?
Naturally, natural diamonds are more expensive than labgrown diamonds.
For example, a natural 1-carat G colour, VS2, 3EX diamonds with certification by GIA or IGI, will be $10,000. For labgrown diamonds, with the same specifications will be sold around $3,000- $5,000. The reason for the range for the labgrown diamonds’ price is because it is also changing, it is stabilising between $3,000 to $5,000 depending on the demand, and the supply.
Can diamond be resold?
Previously, the only way to resell a diamond is through a pawnshop, or you sell it to someone you know.
Times has changed, now people can resell their diamonds on second-hand selling platforms. platforms, like Carousell to sell it.
eClarity provides for customers, who like to sell their diamonds to upgrade for another one a trade up at eClarity and BA.sg.
For diamonds that is bought with no trade up policy, you could try and go to the second-hand selling platforms. Pricing wise, you will be surprised as you could fetch quite close to your buying price sometimes.
What is the resale value of natural diamonds?
At eClarity, if you have bought a natural diamond that is triple excellent, within 3 years, you could come back to eClarity for a trade up. The value that you get from the diamond you bought is almost 100%.
Do natural diamonds increase in value?
As a gemologist of 17 years, Amanda at eClarity has observed that the April’s birthstone prices were rather consistent. While sometimes you see a little up trend, but at the same time it could be affected by other factor, for example like your currency exchange, versus your country’s currency.
For certain diamonds, very special unique features diamonds, it has seen increased multiple times, example, black diamond, it was $200 from 17 years ago, but today if you want to buy a black diamond in the excellent range, you will have to spend thousands. The key thing is to know what are the diamonds that are potentially rare and getting its popularity.
In today’s situation, for labgrown diamonds, like pink diamonds, it could have some potential, we are just seeing an uptrend in terms of interest, also, there is a challenge growing pink diamond to a desirable colour, so this is something you would prefer to enquire and observe.
Do natural diamonds lose value?
On the other hand, eClarity gemologist Amanda has never really seen diamonds that lose its value, for example, a customer had brought in his grandmother’s diamond, with the receipt, say this is a diamond that is bought from a shop, that was 2 carats, and it was for $9000, and now 2 carats today are for $30,000-50,000.
Why is diamond resale value so low?
The resell value sometimes depends on where are you selling it. Usually when you sell it at pawn shop, that’s probably not the right place to sell your diamonds.
There are better platforms these days, you could try to sell it on Carousell, or you can bring it back to where you bought your diamonds for trade up, some you can get up to 70-80%
Is it better to buy gold or diamonds?
When you’re buying flowers, you don’t think about whether the price of the flowers will increase in value. You buy flowers because you want to look at the person smile. Diamonds are the same, you buy it to make someone happy, the good thing is that diamond is forever, as compared to flowers. So, you can continue to accessorise yourself, and you continue to express your love.
When you buy gold, the main concern is about the value, say you buy 10 grams of golf, and you will sell when the prices are high.
So, one is for pure investment purpose, and the other expression of love.
How diamonds look when they are found?
Diamond in the rough look like a piece of frosted rock or glass! Diamonds originally are of this pointy shape (diamond shape), and they don’t look like diamond at all!
How much is a 1 carat uncut diamond?
If an uncut diamond is 1 carat, depending on the yield, it may be a 0.3 carat or a 0.1 carat after cutting. It depends on the position and colour of the inclusion.
Do uncut diamonds have resale value?
Uncut diamonds are not something that a layman could purchase easily on the market. It is rather tricky as the diamond trader would prefer to keep it conflict free. It is almost impossible for a jewellery store to treat uncut diamonds. When treating uncut diamonds, the owner has to have to proof that it is a conflict free diamond that is sourced within the Kimberley Process.
Is it worth getting a GIA diamond certified?
Now most of the time, eClarity suggest it’s always worth it to get a diamond GIA certified unless the diamond is very small or of bad quality. The price to get it certified range from a few hundred from slightly below a hundred to hundred plus USD.
Also, we need to remember that we need to have the insurance and shipment to send to GIA and sending it back. But only with GIA certification, you can then emotionally be assured that you know the grading or the quality of your diamond.
If you are thinking about selling and reselling it, it also gives you the assurance of prices, the confidence to fetch a certain price.
Let’s say if you want to do some setting or resetting, GIA also laser inscribe on the diamonds.
Which certification is best for diamond?
eClarity and BA.sg we use GIA and IGI more, so you may want to consider the labs that we have mentioned.
Which is better? GIA or AGS?
GIA is known to be more academic than AGS, while AGS is more focus on to the cut analysis, and commercially well received.
They are closely related to each other in terms of the founders.
Is there fake GIA certificate?
We haven’t seen it for ourselves for a fake GIA. But we have seen fake certification.
There are a few tell-tale signs like wrong spelling, wrong alignments. It is recommended that the certification is from renown labs like what we mentioned above. If you’re getting a GIA certification, there’s always a bar for you to scan and double verify.
Be very cautious if you are getting anything else.
