I’ve been curious about synthetic diamonds. Have you seen them in person? Do they look like real diamonds? It would probably hurt my husband’s feelings if I were to sub a bigger synthetic diamond in my ring, but every so often I’m tempted to get a copy ring with a synthetic diamond.
But then after almost 20 years, I’m used to what I have.
I don’t look at jewelry so my information is no more than stray tidbits picked up in conversation or online. My understandng, however, is that the modern synthetics are “real” — i.e. identical to naturally occurring stones in all chemical and physical properties. Natural stones will have imperfections, fewer and smaller in high grade diamonds, but present nontheless. This is how experts can tell the two apart. I think the same is true of many other gemstones as well. I keep telling my daughters not to get sucked into the engagement ring racket; go buy a big stone that you like, synthetic in order to keep the price down. As a token of their beloved’s devotion, however, they should hold out for something of real and intrinsic value. Antique firearms are good and come in a wide enough range of pricepoints to suit most budgets. If the guy can’t ante up for at leadt an 1861 Springfield rifle, he’s probably not financially ready for marriage. Antique cars are fine too, but they are harder to hang on the wall.
Nothing says true love like a Cubic Zirconia.
Diamonds are for chumps.
Me too. I've had a running joke with my kids about converting my ashes after I'm gone into diamond jewelry.
From the early days of synthetic diamonds, and a very enjoyable read.
https://www.wired.com/2003/09/diamond/
“This is very rare stone,” he says, almost to himself, in thickly accented English. “Yellow diamonds of this color are very hard to find. It is probably worth 10, maybe 15 thousand dollars.”
“I have two more exactly like it in my pocket,” I tell him.
He puts the diamond down and looks at me seriously for the first time. I place the other two stones on the table. They are all the same color and size. To find three nearly identical yellow diamonds is like flipping a coin 10,000 times and never seeing tails.
“These are cubic zirconium?” Weingarten says without much hope.
“No, they’re real,” I tell him. “But they were made by a machine in Florida for less than a hundred dollars.”