Could you distinguish between them if you weren't told?

para_parolu 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

In final jewelry no. This is why brands like Tiffany are in panic and pivoting to mechanical-watch-like branding, where only inflated price matters.

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ridgeguy an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

De Beers sells devices that can distinguish between naturals and CVD synthetics. They're not cheap, but less than ~$80K, IIRC. They do a pretty good job, I've heard >90% success in identifying CVD stones.

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s0rce 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

With close microscopic examination of inclusions and defects, yes you probably can. There are also spectroscopic differences. In general looking at finished jewelry, no, not really.

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A_D_E_P_T 3 hours ago | parent [-]

> With close microscopic examination of inclusions and defects, yes you probably can.

With good laboratory instrumentation, you might be able to distinguish between them -- i.e. note that they're not perfectly identical, that they are distinguishable -- but, unless you are an expert, you would be unable to tell which of the two is the natural stone.

So, practically speaking, it doesn't matter.

	▲	s0rce 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yes, you need to know which features are evidence of mined vs. synthetic/lab grown. Although there is equipment now preloaded with software that can discriminate. I think its based on photoluminescence.

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analog31 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

There are some applications, such as IR optics, where natural diamonds aren't pure enough.

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mlmonkey an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

DeBeers has been working on systems to do that.