Would you replace real diamonds with lab ones?

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Kfka_btsea

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May 8, 2018
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#1
I'm considering getting a pair of earrings that feature 2 fairly large emerald cuts. The specs are good, think VS & up, D/E colour and good ratio and cut etc, so the price, which is not unsubstantial, is mostly attributable to this.

I've fallen out of love with ECs because I'm all about the sparkle these days rather than the hall of mirrors effect (though ECs 100% suit this design, which is art deco inspired), and it seems like a waste to leave a nice 5 figure sum sitting in there, so I'm considering switching out the pair for lab grown ones and selling on the real ones on, so that I can spend the proceeds on even more jewelry of course...

Key considerations:
- I've never bought a lab grown stone. Not sure if I'd regret this in the future.
- I really love the design and don't intend to sell it. If I did, I would of course disclose any changes to the buyer. But would doing so be "ruining" a piece of fine jewelry?
- Am also feeling a bit guilty for "breaking" a piece like this
- Don't need the money back nor will it make a big difference to my life, but I dislike the idea of spending so much on diamonds (and then they aren't even cut to sparkle!), idk why. It's also not a purely $ based decision; I've spent similar amounts on very fine coloured stones and wouldn't dream of replacing the real stones with lab grown ones.

Have only felt this way about diamonds, maybe it's all the cynicism about "diamonds are not really rare, De Beers cartel blah blah blah" etc has gotten to me.

What I don't want to do is buy the piece, sell the diamonds, regret it and then repurchase real diamonds at (higher) retail prices later.

What would you do?
 
#6
No, just buy a lab pair if you want to try lab.
i dont have any lab, but I would not purchase something new only to dismantle it for the setting
you can also ask your independent jeweler to see if he can CAD design something to your specs
however, I don’t know how to find an independent that uses Lab stones.
 
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#11
Have the piece recreated with another jeweler with hand chosen lab stones to begin with.

you will lose significantly on reselling the natural stones plus the old settings wouldn’t be made to fit the new stones exactly.

just start where you want to end up.

GIA only recently started certifying lab diamonds - the vast majority will be IGI certified.

be careful with color and growth process with lab stones. Emerald cuts require high clarity so you might want to talk with a specialist. Jon Weingarten at Distinctive can custom cut you a beautiful pair that are vetted for specs and he has a very good custom bench in NY as well.

www.distinctivegem.com

Your Custom Cut Distinctive Emerald Cut Lab Grown Diamond

The Distinctive Emerald Cuts are optically designed for the best optics attainable in an Emerald cut. These emerald cuts are fashioned after more traditional emerald cuts with shorter chamfered corners and cut to 1.40:1 ratios as depicted in the modeled images below. UPDATE: OUR DISTINCTIVE...
www.distinctivegem.com www.distinctivegem.com
 
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#12
Emerald Cut Diamonds with D-E color would be spectacularly sparkly, Kfka_btsea. D-E-F color is extremely important with EC, and the larger the diamond the more important is. I recently looked at a couple of Kwiat EC bracelets in the identical configuration. The 9 ct bracelet with D-E-F diamonds was fiery and mesmerizing. The 15 ct one with G-H-I diamonds was nearly 4x the price and looked like glass. Basically, like costume jewelry.

If you would feel comfortable wearing fairly large D-E-F EC diamonds and can afford mined rather than lab grown, go for the real thing!

Millstream
 
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#13
2cello said:
this seems inverted. Why would you not just look for similar earrings with lab stones rather buying natural diamond earrings and swapping them out?
Click to expand...

I found this in an estate jewelry shop. I'd previously tried:

1. Reaching out to the maker / brand, but they insist on not repeating their collections

2. Took pics to my jeweler and asked if it could be replicated and the answer was - a lot of time, effort, money and he thinks I'm better off just buying the earrings outright.

It wasn't so much the main diamond pair that concerned him - the rest of the design is basically step cut diamond and emerald melee calibrated to fit exactly into the setting, and then channel / bezel set (I can't tell), which my jeweler said meant setting it was a headache. The emeralds' colour is also really good and he warned me I might just have to buy a very expensive piece of rough to spilt into tiny pieces.

I haven't been able to find similar earrings of the same quality so far.

I'm being very contradictory but to put it this way - if the settings were natural stones and the main diamond pair lab stones, I wouldn't care so long as priced appropriately.
 
#14
QuelleFromage said:
Although if you've "fallen out of love with ECs" I'm not sure I get why you even want these earrings?
Click to expand...

yeah I'm quite a contradiction :doh: I don't care for ECs in and of themselves - so no interest in EC studs, for example, but I really like the overall earrings design. It feels weird knowing that the main cost component of the earrings isn't something I would willingly pay for.

If I do end up getting this piece one day I might post the pics and see if it makes sense (or still doesn't!)
 
#15
Kfka_btsea said:
Took pics to my jeweler and asked if it could be replicated and the answer was - a lot of time, effort, money and he thinks I'm better off just buying the earrings outright.

It wasn't so much the main diamond pair that concerned him - the rest of the design is basically step cut diamond and emerald melee calibrated to fit exactly into the setting, and then channel / bezel set (I can't tell), which my jeweler said meant setting it was a headache. The emeralds' colour is also really good and he warned me I might just have to buy a very expensive piece of rough to spilt into tiny pieces.
Click to expand...

I don’t know for sure without pics, but perhaps you might want to ask a few more jewelers re creating a similar design. Some prefer not to go outside their wheelhouse. Others Have different specialities or focus re bench training. . . Others prefer to repair. Some like design challenges. Others are experts at CAD. I do still think breaking up the setting is more trouble than it’s worth.

To me,mid it’s an estate piece, then replacing the stones with modern lab somehow would ruin the ethos of it. Never mind the look. There is also a reason why these pieces don’t feature super brilliant stones. Of course you know this already though :smile:
 
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