If one was presented with the choice of choosing between two items that are 100% identical, but from different origins and the price of one is 50% higher than the other, which would be the most practical and sensible choice?

This is the exact scenario when consumers with the intention of buying a diamond engagement ring or jewellery adorned with diamonds as they have the option to choose between the less pricy lab grown diamonds and the pricy natural diamond which differ significantly in terms of price. Despite the big difference in price, lab grown diamonds and natural are identical in terms aesthetics to both the naked eye of consumers and as well as the naked eye of a trained gemologist.

Lab grown prices cost a fraction of the price compared to naturally mined diamonds for a wide variety of reasons which includes the less expensive method that is used to produce the diamonds compared to heavy duty and labour intense mining operations that is the primary reason for natural diamonds being as pricey as they are.

The fact that lab grown diamonds are created within weeks in contrast to the millions of years that Mother Nature takes to create these gems is also the secondary reason (scarcity of natural diamonds) as to why natural diamonds are so pricy (nothing to do with the quality of the diamonds as they are the same in every aspect of gems.

In some case scenarios lab grown diamonds possess higher quality than natural diamonds). The difference in price for diamonds that possess fancy colours or hues (bluish, pinkish or yellowish) are even higher, but with lab grown diamonds, these hues can be created by the professionals in a lab.

To provide readers with a better perspective of the amount of savings that they will benefit, in this article we will compare two engagement rings that are identical. The Delicacy solitaire which consists of a One Carat D-colour SI2 ‘natural’ diamond encrusted into an 18-carat white gold ring costs slightly less than $8,000, whereas the same ring with a lab grown diamond costs just slightly over $2,000 which is a difference of approximately 70%.

However, not all jewellers offer such start differences and most would offer a price difference of between 30 % to 50% lower which is still considered expensive for lab grown diamonds despite the fact that their quality is the same as natural diamonds. A good price difference between lab grown and natural diamonds would within the 60% range and this downward price trend for lab diamond is expected to continue well into the future due to intense competition.

Given the current state of the global economy and inflation, the practical choice when you buy diamonds should be lab diamonds given the fact that consumers are able to get more ‘bling’ at affordable prices. Lab diamonds have many other advantages that we will cover in future articles such as the environmental impact of diamond mining, conflict diamonds, and the numerous possibilities of lab grown diamonds with regards to customised diamonds that will hold higher value in future.