by dontpanic on Thu Nov 27, 2008 5:49 pm
Time for some facts. The problem with the diamond alternative industry is that a lot of terms are really vague, and there are misleading terms and language being used on the internet. Terms like "Man-Made", or "real" no longer have any meaning. There are two terms used by gemological institutes that do have meaning however.
A "synthetic" diamond is a manufactured diamond that has the same chemical properties and chemical structure as mined, or "naturally-occurring" diamonds. THEY ARE DIAMONDS. They are created, not dug out of the ground.
Now these are opposed to "SIMULATED" diamonds, or "diamond simulants". These are stones the are chemically an entirely different substance than diamonds. They are merely designed to look like diamonds. This would be moissanite, and cubic zirconia. Or others.
So when you use words like "real", what does that mean? Not much universally. I define real in terms of chemical properties, so synthetic diamonds such as Gemesis or Apollo are "real". Some people feel that only stones that have been dug out of the ground are real. Thats for them to decide their own use of the meaningless term.
The real problem is that some companies out there have started marketing their cubic zirconia as "man-made diamonds", stretching the ethical limits of what can be termed "diamond". For example, Diamond Nexus Labs. I've seen much on specialists forums such as pricescope.com indicating that their stones are CZ. This makes sense, because truly synthetic diamonds are not easy to produce and are way more expensive than Diamond Nexus Labs. On their website they acknowledge that their stones are a "simulant", chemically different from diamonds. YOu will see banners though, calling them "man-made diamonds", and I"ve even seen banners saying they were "synthetic"! So buyer beware. The only thing that should be termed "diamond" is a naturally occuring diamond, or a synthetic diamond, labelled as such. If you go around calling non-diamond material "man-made", you are propogating a mistruth that doesn't benefit consumers or the industry. Synthetic diamond manufacturers actually do not want their diamonds confused with mined diamonds, because it is in their best interest to maintain consumer faith in the industry. ONly the cz makers a posing their products as "diamonds" are interested in causing confusion.
