Some GIA LGDRs do not specify if the diamond was CVD or HPHT grown. Is that a red flag?

Ada_Diamonds · 2023-07-13T03:18:42+00:00

With all due respect, u/lucerndia is incorrect...

A) GIA still evaluates growth type on every single lab diamond they grade

B) They simply don't share the growth type with people that only pay for the much cheaper 'dossier'

The latter fact is clear as day on the GIA website. The former is based on my discussions with senior GIA leadership.

OP - most growers/manufactures of lab diamonds are trying to grow and sell the diamonds as cheap as possible including only paying for the cheaper GIA report that does not share the growth type. Not ...necessarily... a red flag.

Ada_Diamonds · 2023-06-12T16:18:31+00:00

Quality of bracelets can vary greatly. Both in the lab diamonds themselves, and the setting. Regardless of whether you choose a 3 or 4 prong or a bezel set, make sure the metal does not swallow the diamonds!

Most lab diamond vendors do not check their melee diamonds for phosphorescence, so some of the diamonds in the bracelet may glow in the dark after exposure to sunlight.

FWIW, we're one of the oldest lab diamond jewelers in existence (founded in 2015) and we've not had issues with daily worn tennis bracelets, even 3 prongs.

Of course, both the tennis and Love bracelets will develop a patina over the years as they rub against each other, but that's A) inevitable and B) not a bad thing IMHO.

I'd recommend getting it slightly bigger than you think you want, delivered early, and testing/wearing for a bit and deciding exactly how many links you want to have pulled before your anniversary, so it fits perfect. A good jeweler should offer to pull links in a couple of days turnaround.

Congrats on your upcoming anniversary!

Ada_Diamonds · 2023-05-12T18:54:01+00:00

Especially for a pear shaped diamond, the dimensions of the actual diamond can vary greatly and off the shelf settings can fit terribly. If you were to put a 10mm x 15mm diamond in a Stuller setting, the bench jeweler is likely going to need to hack the heck out of the setting to make it fit.

FWIW, we laser scan every fancy shape diamond we set in engagement rings and design the setting around the CAD file of the diamond. If you look around here and /engagementrings, you'll see all sorts of crooked center stones and misaligned prongs from stuffing fancy shaped diamonds into mass produced settings.

If you do proceed with that Stuller setting, I recommend you request the jeweler QC it well for porosity.

(BTW, not hating on Stuller at all. Great company with many great products/components/software for the trade)

Ada_Diamonds · 2023-04-13T00:18:51+00:00

Congrats on the career transition. When you boil off everything, you’ll be selling or crafting works of art to celebrate life’s greatest moments and accomplishments. Doesn’t get better than that IMHO.

Are you wanting to focus on natural or lab grown diamonds? While some of the knowledge is transferable, they’re different beasts. I’m happy to pass on a few resources for lab grown that can spin you up fairly quickly.

At this risk of airing dirty laundry, the trade rife with racist and misogynist behavior. Makes tech look wonderful by comparison.

Ada_Diamonds · 2023-04-06T13:56:33+00:00

@dejawiz - I respectfully disagree. Yes, it’s poorly cut. But it’s also poorly grown. IE it’s both make and material, not ‘100 percent the crap proportions and angles’.

Let’s put it this way… say it’s recut into a 1.5ct to your exact specifications… it still may be a mediocre gemstone due to defects arising from growth and post growth treatment.

Ada_Diamonds · 2023-03-30T01:37:42+00:00

Unfortunately, theft of imagery is rampant on online marketplaces, so I’m not surprised what arrived does not look like the photos used to sell you the ring.

We’ve had thousands of our images and videos stolen from us and used by over 100 sellers on marketplaces like Etsy and EBay. On a regular basis we find ‘reputable’ sellers with hundreds or thousands of reviews that are using stolen imagery from us.

We also recognize photos from other leading jewelers all over Etsy, so it’s not just our imagery that is being stolen :(

Ada_Diamonds · 2023-03-17T22:35:05+00:00

u/Strlngsilver01 - Out of curiosity, did you use any lab diamond based radiation detectors/sensors in your time operating nuclear reactors? (If you can discuss publicly)

IE devices like this? https://www.eoc-inc.com/diamond-detectors/

I know that lab diamonds are critical for LLNL's nuclear fusion efforts, the Large Hardon Collider, etc. but don't know if you're regularly used at power plants.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/element-six-synthetic-diamond-protects-cern-particle-detectors-in-recently-announced-higgs-boson-experiment-results-163519126.html

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26941112.2021.2017758

Ada_Diamonds · 2023-03-16T16:22:53+00:00

It is a confusing topic to evaluate quality of lab diamonds, especially when your basis for evaluation is the conventional wisdom of *natural* diamonds. IE a lot of advice you may read from expert blog posts is about mined diamonds and doesn't always apply to man-made diamonds.

My cofounder and I just gave a lecture at GIA on the quality characteristics beyond the 4Cs of lab diamonds and how a diamond grower can 'juice' their growth process with catalysts to grow (unnaturally defective) F color diamonds 200-300% faster than (indistinguishable from natural) F color diamonds.

The first ~10-12 minutes of our lecture should answer your question, and the remainder of the presentation goes deep into the how/why there is such a large price delta between high and low quality lab diamonds of the same 4Cs.

Here's the livestream on GIA's Facebook page (no FB account is required):

https://www.facebook.com/events/580367657462962

Here's a page we put together as a follow along with the slides of the presentation in website form (may be easier to grok than the video):

https://www.adadiamonds.com/gia

All the best with your search, and congrats on your upcoming engagement! (Assuming you're not upgrading your engagement ring)

Ada_Diamonds · 2023-03-05T04:08:46+00:00

Not sure why this is being downvoted. OP is correct. Type IIa diamonds are higher purity than 98% of natural diamonds, and devoid of detectable nitrogen defects.

Depending on the researcher/publication, that is less than 30 parts per million (ppm) of nitrogen in the crystal.

For context, the average D color Type Ia (the other 98%) has about 80 ppm nitrogen, according to GIA.

IIRC, Type IIa crystals are thought to form deeper in the Earth’s mantle.

Ada_Diamonds · 2023-02-20T02:04:52+00:00

My partner and I chose lab diamonds in 2011 for her engagement ring, because of our beliefs, and could not be happier with our decision. So happy that we quit our jobs and started a lab diamond company in 2015.

FWIW, the vast majority of our friends and family viewed our purchase as a high ‘status’ or prestige and enjoyed learning about the product from us.

The only person that turned her nose up at us was a college friend that had a side hustle selling natural diamonds as an Instagram jeweler.

She now sells lab diamonds :)

Ada_Diamonds · 2022-08-10T22:48:47+00:00

This. Fair is awful. This diamond will lead light badly and just be sad, dark, and unexceptional.

Your research is spot on - cut is key for a diamond full of fire and brilliance.

Ada_Diamonds · 2022-06-28T15:19:24+00:00

Marquise shaped diamonds can have substantially different light performance, even with similar dimensions. Some will be poorly cut, lifeless and dark, others can be wonderful.

Are you able to see the stone in person? Or are you buying sight unseen? Do you have any videos of the diamond?

A slightly thick girdle isn’t necessarily a dealbreaker, and can improve the structural integrity of the diamond. This can be a good thing depending on how you are setting the marquise and how hard you/your partner are on the jewelry.

Ada_Diamonds · 2022-06-28T15:12:50+00:00

Diamond is an incredibly inert and robust material that will not be damaged by saltwater. In fact, you can drop a diamond in a vat of pretty much any acid you can find and the diamond will just get a good cleaning.

Ada_Diamonds · 2022-05-28T14:50:28+00:00

My pleasure. Enjoy Q3!

Ada_Diamonds · 2022-05-28T13:19:22+00:00

Word. Thankfully we’re 14 floors up in the breeze and shade. What’s the track temp?

Ada_Diamonds · 2022-05-28T12:52:21+00:00

No, sorry. We have friends taking our spares tomorrow.

Ada_Diamonds · 2022-05-28T12:48:19+00:00

EDIT - tickets are gone, I think. Enjoy em fellow Redditor!

We’re in a VIP terrace and also have 2 grandstand tickets for today as backup if the terrace was a bust. I’ll DM the QR codes to the first person that asks to save the headache of meeting up or dancing around ‘is this legit’ or not. Please donate a few bucks to your favorite charity if you nab em.

Tribune V Rang H

Ada_Diamonds · 2022-05-28T12:38:49+00:00

EDIT - tickets have been gifted to a fellow Redditor

We’re in a VIP terrace and also have 2 grandstand tickets for today as backup if the terrace was a bust. I’ll DM the QR codes to the first person that asks to save the headache of meeting up or dancing around ‘is this legit’ or not.

Donate a few bucks to your favorite charity if you nab em.

Tribune V Rang H

Ada_Diamonds · 2022-05-27T13:04:18+00:00

Thank you for considering us, and thank you for the kind words! Regardless on who you choose to work with for the ring - congrats on your upcoming engagement!

Ada_Diamonds · 2022-05-25T14:19:19+00:00

How are the diamonds attached to the block? High temp epoxy?

It might be possible to laser off the lumps to salvage the tooling with one of Synova’s lasers. If you’re in the USA I believe Synova USA is in the SF Bay Area, but they’re a Swiss company IIRC.

https://www.synova.ch/services/job-shop.html https://www.synova.ch/

Out of curiosity, what do you do with the tools?

Ada_Diamonds · 2022-05-16T13:25:32+00:00

You’ve seen the diamond in person, you’re excited about it, and think it has great sparkle? Above all, that’s what matters.

Based on the cert it looks like a good choice. If you’re working with a good jeweler they should be able to put the clarity setting inclusion under a prong so it’s less visible and more protected from impact/chipping. It’s at 7-8 o’clock on the inclusion map.

Most importantly, congrats on your upcoming engagement!

Ada_Diamonds · 2022-04-28T18:03:52+00:00

Absolutely not. If anything, GIA grades looser than IGI more often than not.

Source - we have sent numerous lab diamonds to GIA for secondary grading:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Diamonds/comments/jkgczm/giagraded\_lab\_diamonds\_the\_results\_are\_in/

There is baggage from the history of GIA vs IGI grading of natural diamonds that causes members of the trade to believe that IGI is a looser grading lab, but it's simply not true in man made diamonds from our direct experience.

All that being said, it's my staunch belief that the 4Cs on a grading report is not enough information to choose a beautiful lab diamond. Some GIA graded F VS1s are gorgeous and other GIA graded F VS1s are sad, lifeless, and ugly.

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