Lab-Free Lab-Grown Reports
May 30, 24
Further evidence emerged this week of the growing divide between the natural and lab grown diamond worlds.
The newly-established Grown Diamond Trade Organization (GDTO) announced the introduction of "grown diamond jewelry reports" that attest to the specification of finished lab grown items of jewelry.
They are nothing like a traditional diamond grading certificate. There is no lab involved.
The GDTO describes the reports as being like the explanatory box on the packaging of a new TV - that specifies the size and type of screen, resolution, operating system etc.
They're designed to provide the retailer with peace of mind that the manufacturer is providing what they say they're providing. Nothing more or less.
As lab grown prices keep tumbling, the cost of a GIA, IGI, or GCal grading certificate becomes increasingly prohibitive, and arguably unnecessary.
De Beers didn't bother with grading reports at all when it launched its Lightbox range of lab growns back in 2018 (although it did relent and introduce slimmed-down certs two years later).
The GDTO's new jewelry report is, it says, "a result of the realization that lab grown diamond jewelry and mined diamond jewelry are fundamentally different in the way they are produced, the way they are marketed, and finally, the way that they are presented to the consumer".
These days, so the GDTO logic goes, neither the retailer nor the consumer requires certified, laser-inscribed proof of a lab grown engagement ring's 4Cs. They don't need to know about the excellent cut, symmetry or fluorescence.
All they need is the reassurance that they're pretty much getting what they think they're getting, and they're not going to discover they paid for a top-of-the-range Samsung 85-in QLED and were palmed off instead with a budget 40-in Electra.
"We are not a lab and don't want to be a lab," Marty Hurwitz, executive director at GDTO, tells IDEX Online.
"The reports are a mutual attestation, not a guarantee, (between member manufacturers and member retailers) as to the specs of the LGD jewelry.
"The retailer can dispute it when they receive the product (if they disagree with the manufacturer's attestation). We are providing the platform to facilitate this mutual attestation and any disputes that arise."
The grown diamond jewelry reports provide basic info on the item being sold. A sample report gives the TCW (in this case 1-3/4 carats), the type of precious metal (14KT White Gold), center stone carat weight (1/2), diamond color (colorless), diamond clarity (SI1-SI2), comments (HPHT) and general description (1-3/4 CW Lab Grown Diamond Halo Emerald Shaped Ring in 14KT White Gold.
The difference between a GDTO report and a lab cert is reflected in the price, which starts at $3 per jewelry item.
"We are creating our own eco-system for lab-grown diamonds and the LGD supply chain members," says Hurwitz.
"We are creating a different model from what the certifying bodies do and that model specifically relates to LGD jewelry.
"The labs are all very strong, very experienced certifying bodies. But they were born in the mined diamond industry. We believe the lab grown diamond supply chain and the LGD jewelry consumer will prefer something different."
Have a fabulous weekend.