Are Man Made Diamonds "Real" Diamonds?

In a word, yes. In nature, diamonds of all colors are basically rocks that are made up of black carbon. Over the eons, these chunks of black carbon underwent geological changes that created the many shades of diamonds, e.g. white, green, yellow, blue, pink and even black. What makes a diamond a diamond is not its color, but its chemical structure.

Man made diamonds are created in a gemology laboratory; they undergo the same evolution as natural diamonds even down to their carbon base. But instead of taking eons to create, man made diamonds are created in months or even less time. Modern science has made this rapid evolution possible. Basically, a diamond is a diamond, regardless of whether it is made by nature or in a laboratory.

Why Purchase a Man Made Diamond?

Man made diamonds are called cubic zirconium. This name reflects their usual cubic make up before they are cut and polished. Zirconium is a stone related to zircon, a hard, white stone with a carbon base, just like nature's diamonds. Through a complicated chemical concoction within a gemology laboratory, these basic "ingredients" form man made diamonds. When deciding whether to purchase a man made diamond of cubic zirconium, remember that the difference between it and a "real" diamond is only in your mind.

You'll find that a man made diamond of cubic zirconium looks exactly like a "real" diamond because it IS a real diamond. Only a gemologist can tell them apart under examination with a magnifier. You can purchase rings, bracelets, earrings, necklaces of all sorts that are man made cubic zirconium diamonds for a fraction of the cost of nature's diamonds. Since CZ diamonds are made in a lab, they are much cheaper to create. Nature's diamonds must be located, mined, cut, polished and mounted; all a time-consuming and expensive process. You need not insure your CZ man made diamond, another money-saver. You can have your CZ mounted any way you wish, just like nature's diamonds.

For example, if you want a large, "showy" diamond ring, you can purchase a man made diamond of three carats for about $100. If you have the stone mounted in a platinum Tiffany setting, the mounting will cost about five times the cost of the CZ stone! Urban legend has it that a couple of years ago, a woman was accosted by thieves who stole her large man made diamond ring. The woman was fearful of harm during the robbery, but she had the last laugh, imagining the astonishment of the thieves when they attempted to pawn the "fake" diamond ring!