Anyone with a lab-grown diamond?

[diamondlillie]

If so, how do you like it?

I'm considering upgrading my engagement ring, bought 40 years ago when we had no money. DH is all up for this so that's not the problem.

I'm looking at a solitaire around 0.8ct or even 1ct and a good diamond (real) is anywhere from £3k-£5K+.

Here's the rub- a lab grown is half that price or less.

I'm old (60s) and I know my DD won't want it as an inheritance, 2nd hand diamonds are not worth much even if they are good quality, so is it more sensible and eco-friendly to buy a lab grown one?

A lab grown diamond is still a real diamond, in the same way an IVF baby is still a real baby. I’d go for the lab grown and save your money.

Thank you!

I can get a lovely 1 ct oval solitaire for around £1300 which seems wonderful and I'd not worry so much about losing it , compared to one costing 5 x that.

Buy a vintage one, eBay or Etsy, far better, my preferred choice, would you consider?

I'd check out your local auction house as another option, mine has fab jewellery sales.

But if a lab grown one suits you best, go for it, why not?

Hmmm

I'm a bit funny about 2nd hand. I have very unusual hands (tiny) and it's better if it's made to measure rather than having the band altered which never looks great (been there and wasn't happy.)

I’d also recommend a vintage ring. You can get a beautiful hand cut diamond for a fraction of the price as new and personally I think they look so much better.

It wouldn't fit though as my ring size is G.

Alterations sometimes don't work very well.

Honestly I would probably go for a moissanite over a lab. Lots of sparkle and way less costly.

Nothing wrong with a lab grown diamond if you want one go for it.

I have small fingers too you could spend a lot having it reset it’s not always worth the grief.

You can get size G in auctions too!
But if it doesn't float your boat, that's fine too.

Noone will ever know what sort of ring you have, you just need you and DH to love it.

Worked well for my in recent years, but above average ring size, divorced so ring on right hand , third finger, put off by new

I have one. I sent my ring away to be plated and resized and royal mail lost it (special delivery) and had to get a replica made so I went for an upgrade to the diamond and had platinum instead of white gold. The lab grown diamond is lovely and ethically better so I'm told, as well as a lot cheaper. No one will ever know.
Plus growing diamonds in a lab is cool 😁

I have a lab diamond engagement ring and I adore it. I was able to get my perfect combination of the 4Cs (cut, clarity, colour, carat) for my dream ring for a price I don’t feel guilty about, and without worrying about the provenance of the stones. What’s not to love?

I'd say go for the lab diamond. People harp on about resale value but you're not buying it to resell it or as an investment, you're buying it to wear everyday and enjoy it's beauty. Lab diamonds are no less beautiful than natural ones.

I feel like jewellery holds memories and unless it's 2nd hand passed down from your family I wouldn't be keen on it either. Go for the lab diamond.

My DH bought me a natural diamond engagement ring because he didn't like the idea of a lab diamond and honestly as much as I adore my ring and feel honoured he spent so much I would have been just as happy with a lab one. When I get my eternity ring I will definitely be going for lab grown diamonds.

You can get the diamonds separately and have it made into whatever you like, but if you prefer a more modern setting, then a lab diamond might work better for you.

G isn’t a particularly difficult size to get, you can resize up or down by quite a few sizes depending on the ring. All my rings are vintage, I’m an H to J and I’ve even managed to find a full eternity ring to fit (they can’t be resized unfortunately). I found the smaller sized more common in antique rings, people were a lot smaller/shorter back then.

I have lab grown diamond studs and am having a pendant made atm with lab grown diamonds (and mined sapphires). You cannot tell the difference at all, and I am very happy with the studs and def wear them more than if they were mined diamonds of the same size

Thanks all.

My original engagement ring was resized and the band is slimmer at the 'join'. Likewise a cocktail ring I bought myself.

I just can't get my head around buying 2nd hand. Call it 'superstition' or whatever but I think a special ring has a history and it doesn't sit right with me to wear someone else's. Maybe silly but that's how I feel.

The company I'm looking at is online and I've used them before. They send a mock-up of the ring first in silver and a 'fake' stone so you can try it on.

i’m the same about 2nd hand jewellery- creeps me out! I would go for lab diamond.

I would never buy a new diamond for ethical reasons, lab grown ones look amazing!

I have one and I love it. Platinum, 1ct, the best possible clarity. Made by a local company. I don’t care about resale value as I just want to wear it and then I expect it will be passed to DD.

Older mined diamonds look different to modern diamonds because they were hand cur. The facets are relatively larger so they have a softer look; modern diamonds are more sparkly. Which one prefers is a question of taste, not values.

My engagement ring has a modern mined diamond because we didn’t know about the vintage market - I prefer old diamonds - and lab diamonds were not readily available. Now that they are, I would go for lab diamonds, because they are also beautiful, are molecularly identical, and are associated with better values.

I agree, the only ring/item of jewellery I would wear second hand would be something already in my family, for sentimental purposes.

I would. I have a mined diamond engagement ring and want a diamond wedding band to suit which will be ££££ so I'm considering lab diamond for the wedding band.

I chose a lab for my wife's engagement ring.
They are chemically identical to mined diamonds
The plusses for me was that I liked the idea of a rugged stone that was hard-wearing (considered moissonite but harder to get in the uk), and it offers comparative value, better ethics and you tend to get better quality for you money.

Lab diamond tend to be on the higher end of the cut,clairity, colour etc because you don't get the flaws naturally occurring.

Some people have an odd thing about it, but you can't actually tell (even jewelers can without testing). Normally the reason people can "tell" is simply that people tend to get bigger, snazzier quality diamonds then they would have bought if they bought mined and it's that people react to.

My ring for example has lots of smaller lower clarity vintage diamonds, because i preferred that look. If they were lab diamonds in identical cut and clarity they'd look the same. However my friend has been told her diamond looks "fake" despite being mined but it's simply because it's a massive diamond, that's much more expensive, bigger, shinier etc then most diamonds you see around.

The only down sides are if the person has sentimentality about real diamonds (mine wife didnt)

Resale value of any diamond is poor. It is slightly worse for lab diamonds (because they are cheaper to buy in the first place), but honestly all diamonds tank in value the second you leave the shop

I follow the London Diamond Company on insta. They’re all lab grown, but are beautiful. The feedback always looks great.