Synthetic Diamonds

The first synthetic diamonds were produced

by General Electric in 1954. A synthetic

diamond is basically a rock that has the

durability, refractive index and hardness of

a natural diamond – but it is made by man.

A synthetic diamond should not be

confused with stimulant diamonds, such as

glass, cubic zirconia, or moissanite.



Although the technology for synthetic

diamonds came into play in 1954, no

synthetic diamonds were ever seen on the

market until the 1990’s. This was due to the

fact that it took many years for General

Electric to produce a synthetic diamond that

could compare with the quality of a natural

diamond – and when they figured out how to

do it, they found that it cost more to produce

a synthetic diamond than it did to mine and

cut natural diamonds.



Finally, a small company by the name of

Gemesis Corporation figured out a way to

produce synthetic diamonds that were of the

same quality as natural diamonds, at a

cheaper price. Today, Gemesis produces

synthetic white diamonds, and colored

diamonds as well. These diamonds sell for

about 1/3 of the cost of a natural diamond,

but there is a shortage of them, and they are

hard to find. In fact, it seems that synthetic

diamonds are rarer than natural diamonds!