Posted by M. Irdoja
on April 14, 2026
We sell both. Lab-grown diamonds and mined diamonds sit in the same trays in our Boca Raton showroom, graded by the same two laboratories, and each center stone from half a carat travels with its own report. So we have no reason to steer you. What follows is what we tell people across the table, with the sources attached so you can check every number yourself.
One word about words. Most people say natural diamond. The Federal Trade Commission's word for the same stone is mined, and it is the word we use here, because the rules on what a seller may call a diamond are stricter than most jewelers let on. More on that below.
The short version
- A lab-grown diamond is a diamond. The FTC's legal definition of a diamond has included laboratory-grown stones since 2018.
- Same carbon, same crystal, same hardness. A gemologist cannot separate them by eye or with a loupe. A laboratory can, every time, with the right instruments.
- Lab-grown costs less than mined, and the gap has widened every year since 2018. We do not put a percentage on it. The listing prices further down this page are dated and sourced, and the subtraction is yours to do.
- Neither is an investment. Lab-grown has almost no resale market. Mined diamond list prices are down about 29 percent over the last ten years.
- We make no environmental claim for either. Nobody who has looked at the data honestly can.
- In 2025, 61 percent of engagement rings bought in the United States had a lab-grown center stone.
What the word "diamond" means, in law
The FTC Jewelry Guides define a diamond as "a mineral consisting essentially of pure carbon crystallized in the isometric system." That sentence used to contain the word natural. In July 2018 the Commission voted five to zero to remove it, and explained why in plain terms: laboratory-grown stones "have essentially the same optical, physical, and chemical properties as mined diamonds. Thus, they are diamonds."
Two rules follow from that, and both shape how we write about our pieces.
First, a seller must tell you when a diamond was grown. The Guides require a clear qualifier such as "laboratory-grown" or "laboratory-created" every time the word diamond is used for one, and the qualifier has to be as prominent as the word itself. A hashtag at the bottom of a post does not count. The FTC said so in writing to eight lab-grown sellers in March 2019.
Second, and less well known, the Guides bar the words real, genuine and natural for any product "manufactured or produced artificially." That is why you will not read "lab-grown diamonds are real diamonds" on this site, even though the underlying point is correct. The FTC's own contrast is "not a mined stone," so mined is the word we use for the other kind.
The word synthetic was not banned, as is often claimed. The Commission simply dropped it from the recommended qualifiers because a 2016 survey found 56 percent of consumers took "synthetic diamond" to mean an imitation, and it warned that using synthetic to suggest a competitor's lab-grown diamond is not a diamond would be deceptive.
What is the same
Chemistry, crystal structure and hardness. Both are carbon in the isometric (cubic) crystal system. Both sit at 10 on the Mohs scale, where, in the International Gemological Institute's words, "nothing else comes close." Both conduct heat the way only diamond does, which is why a handheld thermal tester reads them both as diamond and cannot separate them.
The Gemological Institute of America puts it this way: laboratory-grown diamonds "have essentially the same chemical composition, crystal structure and physical properties as natural diamonds," and "only a gemological lab with advanced testing equipment can authoritatively determine whether a diamond is natural or synthetic."
On the hand, they behave identically. They take the same polish, hold the same edge, scratch the same things and resist the same things, and clean the same way. A lab-grown stone will not cloud, yellow or wear differently over decades, because there is nothing in it that a mined stone does not also have.
Neither has anything to do with simulants. Cubic zirconia and moissanite look like diamond at arm's length and are, in GIA's phrase, "completely unrelated to diamonds at the atomic level." That is a different conversation.
What is different
Origin, and how long it took
A mined diamond formed in the mantle, was carried up in a volcanic pipe, and was dug out. A lab-grown diamond was grown by one of two methods.
HPHT (high pressure, high temperature) dissolves graphite in a molten metal such as iron, nickel or cobalt inside a press running at roughly 1,300 to 1,600 degrees Celsius and pressures above 870,000 pounds per square inch, and the carbon crystallizes onto a small diamond seed. GIA gives the growth time as "several days to weeks."
CVD (chemical vapor deposition) fills a vacuum chamber with a carbon-bearing gas such as methane, heats it to around 900 to 1,200 degrees, and uses microwaves to break the gas apart so carbon settles in layers on flat diamond seed plates. GIA gives "three or four weeks." Most colorless CVD material was brown as grown and has been decolorized afterward by HPHT annealing. GIA reports that since 2020 about 80 percent of the CVD diamonds it has examined had post-growth treatment, which is why a good report notes the growth method and any treatment.
Where they come from also differs. China grew about 63 percent of the world's lab-grown rough in 2024, and India cuts most of it. In spring 2026, India's imports of lab-grown rough averaged about $15 per carat. Mined rough comes from Botswana, Russia, Canada, Angola, South Africa and a handful of other countries.
How a laboratory tells them apart
Not by looking. Under deep-ultraviolet imaging, the growth pattern gives it away: mined diamonds show concentric or irregular growth, HPHT stones a cross-shaped pattern, CVD stones fine parallel striations. Laboratories confirm with photoluminescence and infrared spectroscopy. Inclusions help too. HPHT stones sometimes carry tiny metallic flecks of the flux they grew in, and CVD stones sometimes carry dark graphite specks. Neither is seen in mined stones.
The screening devices jewelers keep on the counter do not make the call. They return "pass" for mined or "refer" for anything that needs a laboratory, and a referred stone may turn out to be either.
Both laboratories also write it on the stone. GIA laser-inscribes the girdle of every lab-grown diamond it examines with "Laboratory-Grown" and its report number. IGI inscribes its report number with an LG prefix. Under a loupe, with the number in hand, there is no ambiguity.
How they are graded
Here the two laboratories have parted ways, and it matters when you compare reports.
GIA changed its approach on October 1, 2025. For lab-grown diamonds it no longer applies the color and clarity scale it built for mined stones in the D to Z range. It issues one of two descriptors instead, Premium (D color, VVS clarity or better, Excellent cut and finish) or Standard (E to J color, VS clarity, Very Good cut and finish), for stones of 0.15 carat and up, at $15 per carat. Its reasoning was that lab-grown stones "fall into a very narrow range of color and clarity," so gradations built for mined diamonds carry less information. Every lab-grown diamond GIA examines is inscribed "Laboratory-Grown."
IGI grades lab-grown diamonds on the full 4Cs scale it has used since 2005: carat weight, color, clarity and cut, with the growth method and any treatment noted. Most lab-grown diamonds sold in the United States carry an IGI report, and so does every lab-grown center stone from half a carat at Irdoja.
For mined diamonds, GIA remains the reference, and our mined center stones carry GIA reports. If you want the long version of which report to trust for what, we wrote it here: GIA and IGI: which diamond report to trust.
One honest limit. Small stones are not graded individually by anyone. The melee in a halo, a pavé band or a tennis bracelet is matched by hand for color and clarity, and the report on such a piece describes the piece, not each stone. Our rule is simple: any center or solitaire diamond from half a carat travels with its own laboratory report. Below that, we tell you the range and how it was matched.
Price, honestly
Most jewelers' sites still carry a fixed percentage for what a lab-grown diamond saves you. Those figures were written off 2018 pricing, when a one carat G VS1 lab-grown diamond retailed for about $3,625 against $6,600 for the mined equivalent, according to industry analyst Paul Zimnisky. Neither number holds now. Any seller quoting you a single percentage today is quoting an old market, so look at dated listings instead.
Wholesale prices for lab-grown diamonds have fallen about 96 percent since July 2018, by the count of analyst Edahn Golan, who tracks cash transactions in the Indian trading centers. Retail has followed, more slowly. Here is what the largest online diamond inventory in the United States listed on September 5, 2026, for round diamonds, D to F color, VS1 to VS2 clarity, Ideal cut or better, with a GIA or IGI report:
| Round, D to F, VS1 to VS2 | Mined (GIA) | Lab-grown (IGI) |
|---|---|---|
| 1.00 carat | from $3,090 | from $500 |
| 2.00 carat | from $18,630 | from $1,400 |
| 3.00 carat | from $31,310 | from $2,690 |
Those are floor prices from an aggregated inventory, not typical prices, and a loose stone is not a finished ring. A well-proportioned stone in a hand-finished setting costs more at every size, ours included. The direction is what matters, and it has been one direction for eight years.
Mined prices have not stood still either. The RapNet index for one carat mined diamonds fell 21 percent in 2023, 23 percent in 2024 and 10 percent in 2025, and posted its first monthly rise in fifteen months in August 2026. So the gap is wide because lab-grown fell off a cliff, not because mined climbed.
Why the gap exists is less mysterious than it sounds. Lab-grown rough is made on demand, so supply is never the constraint. HPHT rough traded around $10 per carat in 2025. Most of what you pay for a finished lab-grown piece is therefore the cutting, the setting, the report, and the jeweler's margin, and that last item varies enormously between sellers. Trade analysts put typical lab-grown retail margins at 80 to 90 percent against 20 to 40 percent for mined. Which is exactly why the report and the maker matter more than the sticker, and why two lab-grown rings that look alike online can differ by thousands of dollars.
We will not tell you what to do with that gap. Some people buy the larger stone. Some buy the same stone and a wedding band with the difference. Some buy mined anyway, and they are not wrong. The subtraction is yours to do.
Resale, honestly
Neither kind of diamond is an investment, and we would rather lose a sale than let you believe otherwise.
Lab-grown diamonds have close to no secondary market. Worthy, the largest online jewelry auction house, lists "lab-grown diamonds of any shape and size" among the items it does not accept. Brilliant Earth and the Signet brands exclude lab-grown from their trade-in programs. A dealer put it bluntly to JCK in August 2026: "There is no resale value for lab-grown diamonds." Given that wholesale prices fell 96 percent, it could not be otherwise.
Mined diamonds have a resale market, and it has been unkind. Rapaport's list price index for one carat mined diamonds fell 29.4 percent over the ten years to the end of 2025. A thousand dollars put into a one carat mined diamond in January 2016 was worth about $706 in January 2026, before any dealer's margin on the way back out. Gold, over the same decade, rose more than 300 percent.
So the honest frame is this. Buy either one to wear it, to give it, to keep it in the family. Do not buy either one to sell it.
The environment: why we say nothing
You will read that lab-grown diamonds are green, and you will read that they are worse than mining. We make neither claim, and here is why.
In March 2019 the FTC wrote to eight lab-grown sellers warning that "marketers must have a reasonable basis for any environmental benefit claims" and citing its Green Guides, under which words like eco-friendly and sustainable require scientific evidence for every reasonable reading. The published energy figures for growing a diamond run from about 36 to 1,700 kilowatt-hours per polished carat depending on the method, the age of the equipment, and who paid for the study. The report that says mining is seven times worse was funded by a grower and used data from a single factory. The report that says growing emits three times the carbon was funded by the mining companies, and its own author conceded the lab-grown data was thin. A peer-reviewed 2021 study concluded that the idea that growing is inherently less burdensome "has not been confirmed."
What we can tell you is the growth method on the report and where the stone was cut. Everything past that is a claim we cannot stand behind, so we do not make it.
Who is choosing what
The Knot's 2026 Real Weddings Study, which surveyed 10,474 American couples married in 2025, found 61 percent of engagement rings had a lab-grown center stone, up 239 percent since 2020. The average lab-grown center weighed 1.9 carats and the average spend was $4,600. Retail data from Tenoris shows lab-grown passed half of engagement ring units sold in 2025, while it remains about 15 percent of total United States diamond jewelry sales by value. The average loose mined diamond purchase in 2025 was about $11,000 at 1.46 carats.
Read together: the engagement ring has gone lab-grown, and the rest of the jewelry box is following more slowly.
How we would decide
You will hear our recommendation once, and then it is your decision. But you asked, so:
- An engagement ring where size and brightness matter most: lab-grown. The stone you actually want, in the color and clarity you actually want, without a compromise you will notice every day.
- A piece meant to pass down, or a family with a tradition of mined stones: mined, or a mined center with lab-grown accents. Rarity is a real thing to value. Just value it knowing what the resale numbers say.
- Tennis bracelets, studs, eternity bands, anything with many stones that gets worn hard: lab-grown, nearly always. Matched color across forty stones is easier and the wear is identical.
- Fancy colors: a mined pink or blue of any size is an extraordinary object at an extraordinary price. Lab-grown fancy colors put the same hue on the hand, disclosed as grown, and cost less. Put the two next to each other in the showroom and decide which one you actually want on the hand.
Whatever you choose, ask for the report, read the inscription under a loupe, and check that the seller's words match the FTC's. If a jeweler calls a lab-grown stone real or natural, or calls a mined stone the only real one, they have told you something about themselves.
At Irdoja
We stock lab-grown and mined diamonds side by side, from engagement rings and tennis bracelets to everything else. Center stones from half a carat carry a GIA report if mined and an IGI report if grown. If you are choosing between two stones, bring both reports to the showroom and we will read them with you line by line, so you know exactly what each line means before you decide.
The showroom is private and by appointment, near Town Center at Boca Raton. Book a visit, or read what a visit looks like first.
Frequently asked questions
Is a lab-grown diamond a diamond?
Yes, in law and in fact. The FTC's definition of a diamond has included laboratory-grown stones since 2018, on the grounds that they have essentially the same optical, physical and chemical properties as mined diamonds. Sellers must disclose that a stone was grown.
Can a jeweler tell if my diamond is lab-grown?
Not by eye, and not with a handheld thermal tester. A gemological laboratory can, using ultraviolet imaging and spectroscopy, and both GIA and IGI laser-inscribe lab-grown stones on the girdle so the answer is written on the stone itself.
Will a lab-grown diamond cloud, fade or wear down?
No. It is the same material as a mined diamond, with the same hardness and stability, and it ages the same way, which is to say it does not.
How much less does a lab-grown diamond cost?
Less, and the gap is wide. We do not publish a percentage, because the figures on most jewelers' sites were written off 2018 pricing and the market has moved every year since. Read the dated listing prices above and do the subtraction yourself. Finished jewelry narrows the gap, because the setting, the labor and the report cost the same either way.
Do lab-grown diamonds hold their value?
No. There is almost no resale market for them. Mined diamonds do have one, but one carat list prices are down about 29 percent over the last ten years, so neither should be bought as an investment.
Which report should a lab-grown diamond have?
GIA and IGI both report on lab-grown stones. Since October 2025 GIA issues a two-tier descriptor (Premium or Standard) rather than its 4Cs scale, while IGI grades the full 4Cs, and most lab-grown diamonds sold in the United States carry an IGI report. Either one tells you the stone was grown and gives you a number inscribed on the girdle to match. Our mined center stones from half a carat carry GIA reports, and our lab-grown center stones carry IGI reports.
Are lab-grown diamonds better for the environment?
We do not know, and neither does anyone who tells you they do. The published energy figures vary by a factor of almost fifty depending on the method and who funded the study, and the FTC has warned sellers against making environmental claims they cannot substantiate. We make none.
Sources
- 16 CFR 23.12, 23.25 and 23.27, FTC Guides for the Jewelry, Precious Metals and Pewter Industries, as amended August 16, 2018. law.cornell.edu
- FTC, Statement of Basis and Purpose for the 2018 Jewelry Guides revision, and press release of July 24, 2018. ftc.gov
- FTC staff letters to eight lab-grown diamond sellers, March 26, 2019. ftc.gov (PDF)
- GIA, "HPHT and CVD Diamond Growth Processes," and "Simulants, Moissanite and Lab-Grown Diamonds." gia.edu
- GIA, Gems & Gemology, Summer 2024, "GIA Update on Laboratory-Grown Diamonds." gia.edu
- GIA press release, August 26, 2025, "Updated Laboratory-Grown Diamond Services to Launch October 1." gia.edu
- IGI, Laboratory Grown Diamond Report. igi.org
- Edahn Golan, "After a 96% Decline, What's Next for LGD Prices?" July 7, 2026, and "Lab-Grown Diamond Wholesale Prices 2025." edahngolan.com
- National Jeweler, September 21, 2022, Zimnisky retail price data 2018 to 2022. nationaljeweler.com
- JCK, "The Lab-Grown Narrative Is Changing," March 19, 2025, and "Lab-Grown Wholesale Freefall," August 10, 2026. jckonline.com
- Rapaport Diamond Price Statistics, Annual Report 2025 (March 2026), and monthly RapNet Diamond Index releases for July and August 2026. rapaport.com (PDF)
- Worthy, "What We Accept," updated November 2024. worthy.com
- Rapaport Magazine, "The Economics of Lab-Grown," June 21, 2022. rapaport.com
- JCK, "Are Lab-Created Diamonds Eco-Friendly?" March 29, 2019, and coverage of the Trucost (May 2019) and Frost & Sullivan (2014) reports. jckonline.com
- Zhdanov et al., "Energy Consumption of Diamond Synthesis Methods," Energies 14(21):7062, October 2021. doi.org
- People's Daily, September 30, 2025, China's 2024 lab-grown output; Edahn Golan, May 19, 2026, India's lab-grown exports. edahngolan.com
- The Knot Worldwide, 2026 Real Weddings Study, February 18, 2026. theknotww.com
- National Jeweler, "State of Diamonds: The Way Forward for Natural Diamonds," June 5, 2026 (Tenoris data). nationaljeweler.com
- Retail price observations: Brilliant Earth loose diamond listings, round, D to F, VS1 to VS2, Ideal cut or better, sorted by price, viewed September 5, 2026.
Irdoja Team
