Let’s face it. The allure of a diamond is not only its beauty, rarity, and unique chemical properties. The real reason that diamonds are so beloved is that they are a piece of Earth history, formed over literally billions of years. When you wear a real diamond, you are wearing a stone that has been around nearly since the formation of planet Earth itself. Such a concept is oddly very comforting and gives the feeling of immortality. Cultured diamonds, on the other hand, though they are chemically identical, are nonetheless not a piece of Earth history. Cultured diamonds are created over a process of a mere three and a half days.
The two biggest companies involved in synthesizing cultured diamonds are Apollo and Gemesis. The process of formation of cultured diamonds itself is fascinating and deserves an overlook. Cultured diamonds are made in a superhot, superpressurized room using seed crystals, or diamond chips that can serve as a basis for the growth of the diamond and settling of carbon, atom by atom, into the lattice structure. The cultured diamond process begins with a plasma cloud, a superheated organic gas, usually methane, being the lightest Below the cloud is a diamond seed, which, as the carbon atoms from the superheated gas become excited and start bouncing around, they look for a more stable, less energetic place to settle. The diamond shard just below serves nicely. The cultured diamond begins to grow, atom by atom, until after three days, it builds into anything between a half carat and .75 carat stone. For those who simply want to wear a diamond,cultured diamonds like these are fine. But for those who want to wear a piece of pre-history, cultured diamonds will not do.
For this reason, there are ways of differentiating natural diamond from cultured diamond. Reputable jewelers, first of all, are trained to do this, and they will not lie to you and risk ruining their reputation, unless they are in cahoots with Apollo or Gemesis, which is unlikely. On the side edge of any cultured diamond larger than a quarter carat is inscribed the name of the company, either Gemesis or Apollo, that created it. These companies do not attempt to pass their cultured diamonds off as natural ones.
Any diamond that is certified by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), will have a certification that it is not a cultured diamond. The GIA is very vigilant about this. All in all, one need not worry. If you are content in sporting a cultured diamond, power to you. If you’d rather wear the product of billions of years of geology, stick to natural diamonds.
