What is a Synthetic Diamond?

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Synthetic diamonds were created in 1954 by General Electric.  Synthetic diamonds are created from rocks.  This gives synthetic diamonds the refractive index, durability, and solidness of a real diamond.  The key difference is one is natural and the other is created by man.

There are also diamonds that are known as “stimulant” diamonds – common stimulant diamonds are moissanite, cubic zirconia, or glass.  The history of synthetic diamonds began in 1954 but they did not become available to the public until the 1990′s.  The reason for this was General Electric took almost 40 years to  create and produce the synthetic diamond that matched or compared to the standards of a real diamond.  Even after the many years to create a quality synthetic diamond, GE figured out that creating, producing, and selling synthetic diamonds was cost prohibitive; e.g., the cost of producing a synthetic diamond was more than the cost of mining a real diamond.

Even though GE figured out that the production of synthetic diamonds was not a profitable venture, another smaller company, Gemesis Corp., found a way to create synthetic diamonds that mirrored the quality of real diamonds.  So, Gemesis Corp, creates synthetic diamonds, both white and colored at prices that are very  affordable.  The cost of the synthetic diamond is a approximately one-third the purchase price of a real diamond.  The challenge is that these synthetic diamonds are more difficult to find and purchase than real diamonds.

Synthetic diamonds, because they replicate real diamonds, may be an initial alternative to purchasing a natural or real diamond.