A lab grown diamond and a mined diamond of the same carat, colour, clarity and cut will not carry the same price. The gap is significant, and it has nothing to do with quality or durability.
What Drives Mined Diamond Prices
Extraction cost. Mining is expensive. Enormous volumes of material are moved to recover a small quantity of gem quality rough.
Finite supply. Stones of a given size and quality exist in limited numbers, and larger, cleaner stones are genuinely uncommon.
A long supply chain. Rough passes through several hands between the mine and the retail counter, and each stage carries a cost.
Established demand. Decades of marketing have built a durable cultural expectation around mined diamonds, and that expectation supports the price.
What Drives Lab Grown Prices
Production to specification. Stones can be grown to a target size and quality rather than found. Supply responds to demand.
A shorter chain. Fewer stages between grower and buyer means less cost accumulated along the way.
Improving technology. Growing methods have become more efficient, and prices have fallen as a result.
What This Means for You
Neither diamond should be bought as a financial investment. Both typically resell well below retail, and lab grown prices in particular have been trending downward.
Buy the stone for the ring, not for resale. On that basis, lab grown lets you put far more of your budget into size and cut quality.
Every stone we supply is IGI or DIA certified, so you can compare like with like on paper before you compare them in person.
Read Next
- Lab Grown vs Natural Diamonds: The Honest Comparison
- The Diamond Budget Guide
- Lab Grown Diamonds and the Future of Fine Jewellery
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