Cultivated carats

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They sparkle and shine and are society's symbol of enduring love. However, these diamonds did not grow in the ground, cultivated over millions of years of volcanic activity. These stones were made in a lab in a matter of days.

Lab-created diamonds -- also known as cultured diamonds -- are new to the $60 billion diamond business, but the handful of companies manufacturing the gems are hoping eventually to have a large market share.

Prices for lab-created diamonds run 15 percent to 30 percent lower (depending on size and quality) than for mined diamonds. Stones come colorless as well as fancy-colored. Manufacturers are working on the size of the gems. Currently, colorless gems can be found in the one-third to half-carat range; colored stones can be made up to 1.5 carats.

"We've sold everything we have been able to produce," says Bryant Linares, president and chief executive of Apollo Diamonds, a Boston-area company that started selling cultured diamonds last year. "Later we hope to make stones that are half-carat to 1 carat. We see that as the breaking point for the market."

Diamond substitutes have been around for years. Known by names such as cubic zirconia, Diamonique or Moissanite, these stones sparkle like diamonds, but they are made of other materials. That is reflected in the price -- a 1-carat cubic zirconia can be had for less than $20. The same size stone in Moissanite can run about $700.

Scientifically, lab-created diamonds are the real thing. They are created when tiny bits of diamond material are combined with carbon, which is one of the materials in nature's diamonds. The ingredients are placed in a controlled lab under high heat and pressure to make the gem.

"They are identical," Mr. Linares says. "They are difficult to distinguish from mined diamonds. A consumer can't tell the difference."

To prevent fraud, Apollo Diamonds and Gemesis, another company whose cultured diamonds recently hit the market, laser-inscribe their stones with the information that they were lab-created.

The Gemological Institute of America, the independent nonprofit organization that created the International Diamond Grading System, last month began issuing grading reports for cultured diamonds. That means a lab-grown diamond will come with "papers" announcing its color, cut, clarity and inclusions, just like a natural stone.

"It is the GIA's mission as a public benefit institution to grade any stone, whether naturally mined or man-made," says Ralph Destino, chairman of the GIA.