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Offer a girl a synthetic diamond ring and see how far that gets you.

Get her one of these and it's all good:

http://gemesis.com/education/faqs/

Gemesis ( http://gemesis.com/ is where I got my fiancee's diamond several months ago. I have nothing but good things to say about them, especially about their customer service. There are a handful of other places though, however the only one I can recall is Apollo Diamonds, which was bought around the start of the year, I assume for industrial use. Shoot me an email if you'd like to know more.

De Beers presently sets their price at roughly that of the price to have one manufactured by Gemesis.

You know what else De Beers is peeved about? Man-made diamonds. They're cheaper and more ethical than anything De Beers can find in Sierra Leone.

If your geeky bride-to-be is socially conscientious, frugal, or just into cool science, a cultured diamond from "Gemesis" is probably what you want for the stone itself (unless you can think of a better idea). http://www.gemesis.com/

Pffft.... diamonds. Just cause its the most expensive gemstone, doesn't make it the prettiest. Now moissanite, there's a nice high tech and beautiful stone to put on a laptop, plus its rarer to boot.

I would have linked Charles and Colvrad's page but it's kinda cheesy, enjoy a wikipedia link instead (if you want to see the stones, check em out at a local jeweler, a web page does it no justice).

Now, the two big companies in the US to watch for Synthetic diamonds since nobody posted the links:
Gemesis: Use the traditional High Pressure, High Temp method.
Apollo Diamond Use a more innovative (and elusive) Carbon Vapor Depositation method.

Colored diamonds, probably from the factory in Sarasota, Florida.

The diamond industry is coming unglued. They're not that rare, they're not that hard to make, multiple companies are cranking out diamonds, and de Beers lost an antitrust suit, so the monopoly is coming apart.

The resale value of diamonds is about 40% of list price. If that. (The phrase "dump value" is used in the industry.) Look on eBay for even cheaper ones. If you want real diamonds on your computer's LEDs, it won't cost you much.

This is just another case mod project, one with delusions of grandeur.

Gemesis: http://www.gemesis.com/
Apollo: http://www.apollodiamond.com/

and now

Adia: http://www.adiadiamonds.com/

Gemesis were the first using Russian technology.

Did you know that the huge thermal conductivity, is why they are called ice, they always feel cold.

It's not clear from the Adia diamonds whether these are grown like semiconductor wafers or made in high-pressure presses. Gemesys has a Florida plant making gemstones in high-pressure presses. They finally caved in to deBeers and laser-engraves their stones with some ID information. The FTC caved in to the diamond industry and insists they be called "cultured diamonds". They're distinguishable from natural diamonds by their absorbtion spectrum, and deBeers has a tester for this

Grown synthetics were still experimental when Wired wrote their article, but that's the more promising process. Those, in theory, can be indistinguishable from natural ones.

The diamond industry had painted itself into a corner with the concept that the most valuable diamonds are "flawless". You do not want to be in that marketing position when going up against the technology that makes semiconductor wafers. Look for PR about how real diamonds have "natural flaws".

Tied to this is the "Kimberly Process", the agreement supposedly intended to restrict the flow of conflict diamonds. This requires source documentation to travel along with diamonds as they pass through the distribution chain. Previously, diamonds were generic; nobody cared where they came from. The Kimberly Process has the effect of making it much harder to insert large quantities of synthetic diamonds into the distribution system.

Incidentally, most industrial diamonds have been synthetic for years. Annual synthetic production is around 600 metric tons, most of it in the form of abrasive grits for cutting wheels and such. When you need to cut a slot in concrete pavement, you use a diamond cutting wheel.

It's not clear from the Adia diamonds whether these are grown like semiconductor wafers or made in high-pressure presses. Gemesys has a Florida plant making gemstones in high-pressure presses. They finally caved in to deBeers and laser-engraves their stones with some ID information. The FTC caved in to the diamond industry and insists they be called "cultured diamonds". They're distinguishable from natural diamonds by their absorbtion spectrum, and deBeers has a tester for this

Grown synthetics were still experimental when Wired wrote their article, but that's the more promising process. Those, in theory, can be indistinguishable from natural ones.

The diamond industry had painted itself into a corner with the concept that the most valuable diamonds are "flawless". You do not want to be in that marketing position when going up against the technology that makes semiconductor wafers. Look for PR about how real diamonds have "natural flaws".

Tied to this is the "Kimberly Process", the agreement supposedly intended to restrict the flow of conflict diamonds. This requires source documentation to travel along with diamonds as they pass through the distribution chain. Previously, diamonds were generic; nobody cared where they came from. The Kimberly Process has the effect of making it much harder to insert large quantities of synthetic diamonds into the distribution system.

Incidentally, most industrial diamonds have been synthetic for years. Annual synthetic production is around 600 metric tons, most of it in the form of abrasive grits for cutting wheels and such. When you need to cut a slot in concrete pavement, you use a diamond cutting wheel.

1a. http://gemesis.com/wheretobuy/usa.htm
1b. http://gemesis.com/wheretobuy/europe.htm1
1c. http://gemesis.com/wheretobuy/asia.htm

2. http://chatham.com/ (they sell from their website)

Honorable Mention: http://www.apollodiamond.com/
They will have a webstore "in 2006", but will take "special requests" in the meantime.

1a. http://gemesis.com/wheretobuy/usa.htm
1b. http://gemesis.com/wheretobuy/europe.htm1
1c. http://gemesis.com/wheretobuy/asia.htm

2. http://chatham.com/ (they sell from their website)

Honorable Mention: http://www.apollodiamond.com/
They will have a webstore "in 2006", but will take "special requests" in the meantime.

1a. http://gemesis.com/wheretobuy/usa.htm
1b. http://gemesis.com/wheretobuy/europe.htm1
1c. http://gemesis.com/wheretobuy/asia.htm

2. http://chatham.com/ (they sell from their website)

Honorable Mention: http://www.apollodiamond.com/
They will have a webstore "in 2006", but will take "special requests" in the meantime.

So buy "cultured" diamonds rather than mined ones.

http://gemesis.com/home.htm

Market economics at work. Someone keeps prices artificially high, someone else comes along and bursts their bubble.

I personally think opals are far more beautiful than diamonds.

http://www.australianopals.com/

If your looking for clear your only choice is http://www.apollodiamond.com/ they don't make it clear where you can buy their diamonds and I have not been able to find a source. If you can deal with color- yello blue or pink then you can use Gemesis http://www.gemesis.com/ You can buy loose gemesis stones online from http://www.diamondscultured.com/ and get it monuted by a local jewler.

"I don't think man made diamonds are ever going to eclipse natural ones for jewelry" - I will have to disagree with you there.

I know there will always be a niche market (read people with more sense than money) who will always want naturally grown diamonds, however I think most folks will actually not care. Most (uneducated) diamond buyers simply look for 3 things beauty, cost , and carat (wow factor). This is the only reason stores such as Zales can stay in business. They sell the worst diamonds around (I-2's for their regular merchandise - usually up to $1500 and SI-2's for their "Zales Diamond", note that most reputable jewlers won't touch I-2 diamonds). The reason Zales (and other maul stores) sell so much merchandise is first location and 2nd the design, pricing and wow factor (1 carart ring for how much?!).

Now back to synthetic diamonds, eventually most folks will realize that choosing a natural diamond over a synthetic just "'cause it has to be naturally grown" is like choosing furniture built of trees that were grown naturally in a forrest vs using trees that were planted and grown on a farm. There both real trees (plus you'll get less defects in your furniture with the farm grown trees).

Now there's already a lot of companies out there growing diamonds. Check out:

Gemesis in Florida
Apollo Diamond (which uses Carbon Vapor Deposition)
Life Gem- turn the ashes of a deceased loved one into a diamond
There was also an interesting article about it on Wired a ways back: The New Diamond Age

And lastly the one "book" that taught me everything I could have ever wanted to know about the diamond business: The Diamond Invention Very interesting read.

Intersting note, after all the research and shopping (and shopping and more shopping) that I did when I was looking for an engagement ring (including researching Synthetic Diamonds) I decided on having a ring custom made by a local jeweler using moissanites instead of diamonds. Ended being a very beautiful and unique ring of a much higher quality than a mass produced setting and with quite a bit of geek factor to it as well. So I think folks will be accepting of synthetic diamonds once production ramps up to the demand (right now Gemesis is growing as fast as it can).

Read their Industry scheme for regulation. Note the phrase "Not to buy any diamonds from suspect or unknown sources of supply". That's all about market control.

Before the "Kimberly Process", diamonds were generally bought and sold, even in DeBeers showings, with no indication of origin. So introducing synthetic diamonds into the market was easier. With the "Kimberly Process" in place, it's much tougher.

The diamond industry has been lobbying countries to require that synthetic diamonds be labelled in some way. The term "cultured diamonds" is widely used, but there's litigation in Germany to require some more negative term, like "synthetic".

DeBeers has also developed identification devices, the DiamondSure and the DiamondView to try to sort out synthetic and natural diamonds. The diamonds produced in high-pressure presses can be identified without much trouble. But grown diamonds are tougher to identify.

Long term, diamond prices will probably crash, like sapphire did once you could buy sapphire bar, tube, and rod.

Back at the Diamond High Council, I open the film canister and shake the Apollo stones onto the table. Van Royen tentatively picks one up with a pair of elongated tweezers and takes it to a microscope. "Unbelievable," he says slowly as he peers through the lens. "May I study it?" I agree to let him keep the gems overnight. When we meet the next morning in the lobby of the High Council, Van Royen looks tired. He admits to staying up almost all night scrutinizing the stones. "I think I can identify it," he says hopefully. "It's too perfect to be natural. Things in nature, they have flaws. The growth structure of this diamond is flawless."

Diamond age approaching?

Yes, there are even commercial ventures.Ok, tongue out of my cheek now.

I am frankly tired of hearing nanotech predictions from the following kinds of people:

• Anyone primarily trained in computer science. Bill Joy, please stop talking. You are not in any conceivable sense qualified.
• Anyone who has not published in a mainstream peer-reviewed physics/materials science journal in the last three years. Eric Drexler, please either get into the lab, collaborate with someone who is, or stop talking.
• Anyone without a Ph.D. I know this sounds harsh, but without real-world experience you just can't understand how difficult research is. This isn't just a really hard engineering project, like building a Space Shuttle or an atomic bomb. This isn't remodulating the sensor array in 5 minutes like they do on Star Trek. This is being lost without a light in a dark cave deep underground, fumbling to find your path and not knowing if the exit is 100 feet or 100 miles away.

The people who are truly qualified don't weigh in very often, in part because they realize how silly it is to make such predictions.

Well, they are being created right now - I saw a Horizon programme on them.

Gemesis makes yellow diamonds which are incredibly rare in nature, and makes sure that you know that they are artificial. They sell them at a 1/3rd the price of 'wild' diamonds in order not to screw the market up completely.

I guess this is how it'll be for a long, long time - they may be able to make these things for little money, but you sell them for what the market will stand, and pay.

<a href="http://www.gemesis.com/home.htm">This link doesn't work, either.</a>

Gemesis have a gallery showing the usage of their stones in jewellery (also it seems some are from the Accendo Collection,

Accendo Collection a reseller of cultured diamonds also make jewellery and also a loose stone inventory and pricelist.

Or alternatively (if you have the cash) there are other authorised retailers

It is probably wise to bear in mind, that unless the manufacturers can keep the prices close to mined diamond prices, there is no incentive to buy. If I believe a cultured diamond I will buy will produced at a lower price in a few months, I will feel disappointed to put it lightly. However, regardless of cost. I'd prefer a manufactured diamond to a mined diamond. The history surrounding most areas involved in diamond trade and companies involvement in it does not endear me to them.

Personally however I'd like one of these diamonds, however I've never really liked Yellow, regardless of its fancy nature. I prefer blue or black.

Gemesis have a gallery showing the usage of their stones in jewellery (also it seems some are from the Accendo Collection,

Accendo Collection a reseller of cultured diamonds also make jewellery and also a loose stone inventory and pricelist.

Or alternatively (if you have the cash) there are other authorised retailers

It is probably wise to bear in mind, that unless the manufacturers can keep the prices close to mined diamond prices, there is no incentive to buy. If I believe a cultured diamond I will buy will produced at a lower price in a few months, I will feel disappointed to put it lightly. However, regardless of cost. I'd prefer a manufactured diamond to a mined diamond. The history surrounding most areas involved in diamond trade and companies involvement in it does not endear me to them.

Personally however I'd like one of these diamonds, however I've never really liked Yellow, regardless of its fancy nature. I prefer blue or black.

I don't know about physical markings, but I believe right now they have to market them as "cultured" diamonds.

Gemesis URL (corrected)

...diamonds?

I thought that the manufacture of diamonds was set, and only needed to step up its production. Gemesis has been making, for less than $100, gems that would be worth hundreds of thousands if naturally mined.

The most promising thing about these diamonds is that, being cheap, they open the door for cpu cooling. Diamonds are tolerant of exponentially higher temperatures than silicon, so why aren't we hearing about intel, amd, motorola, ibm, TI, and sgi taking advantage of this new technology.

Metal? What about metal is unprecedented? What about it has kept us from using it before? Diamonds are the future, not metal.

Check out Gemesis. A friend of mine designed the vessels they use to make their diamonds. Nothing bigger than 1.5 karats, but you can get nifty colors. These are real diamonds and indistinguishable from "natural" ones, but deBeers doesn't get any of your cash. This may resolve some of your ethical concerns.

Gemesis makes gem-quality synthetic diamonds. Knowing your objections to the way natural diamonds come to market, this may be a suitable alternative.

Here is a couple of companies dealing in "synthetic" diamonds.

Gemesis (This was the company talked about in the PBS Nova show -- one of the best Novas IMHO)

Lucent Diamonds (The FAQ on this site is a very interesting read).

Here is a BBC show covering the same topic though somewhat dated.

Even though these might be considered "fake" diamonds, chemically they are the same. The reason they "phosphoresce" is that the growing pattern is different between the synthestic and natural diamonds.

Ultimately, as Nova pointed out, when synthetics overcome this last "hurdle" of difference it will come down to branding, and you already are seeing DeBeers doing that heavily on TV.

Its not surprising that the synthetic diamond makers are countering by calling their stones "cultured".

Expect to see this heat up as synthetics increase. The synthetic diamond makers are going to make a powerful arguement that their stones are more "ecologically and politically correct". They don't require strip mining the earth or are "blood diamonds" coming from some third-world country used to finance a war or slave labor.

Debeers is arguing that it is like buying a fake painting, not really a masterwork of nature, but by man's hand. It is an interesting thought exercize. Many natural gemstones are now heat and chemically treated to improve color before they are sold. So in a sense they have a "fake color". But yet they still find a ready market.

I expect the same will happen for synthetic diamonds. I for one think it will be a good thing, as DeBeers has been creating artificial scarcity and thus higher prices from their monopoly position. That is another story in itself.

About manufactured diamonds and their history.

currently Gemesis is America's primary manufacturer. They are building a $25m factory for making better/ different colored diamonds. Currently they can make yellow ones, though the show showed clear, and fanciful colored ones (in testing it seems).

They are "real" diamonds, pretty much seeded carbon crystal. Any gemologist can likely tell you they are real diamond, albeit manufactured. AFAIK the cost is a little higher, if not compriable for now.

Gemesis is a Florida company that is now producing large, gem-quality clear or colored diamonds.

There's not much information on the Gemesis web site, but a few weeks ago I remember watching a PBS Nova program entitled "The Diamond Deception" about the quest for gem quality man-made diamonds. Gemesis contracted for Russian technology to produce what they claim are the best man-made diamonds in the world -- diamonds that can only be detected by a fluorescence test.

The stones being produced are of such high quality that DeBeers is seriously concerned about the future of the diamond market.