In the current economic climate, many couples are looking for alternatives to traditional diamond rings that retain the beauty of natural diamonds but at a lower cost. Increasingly, couples are discovering a satisfactory alternative in a Lab Created Diamond.
Lab created or synthetic diamonds are actually chemically the same as natural diamonds. They are made of the same material, come in the same colors as well as many more than in nature, and most importantly they can not be distinguished from a naturalreal diamond by the naked eye alone.
It is important to look out for the alternatives to manmade diamonds. For example Cubic Zirconia, sometimes called just CZ is a diamond imitation with a completely different chemical makeup and a noticeable difference in appearance. CZs can still beautiful stones, they will not pass as a diamond to a trained eye. Look out for online sellers offering "lab diamonds" at low prices. These "diamonds" are often CZs, and may be worth even less than the asking price.
Another gemstone that is often used as an alternative to a diamond is Moissanite. This is one of the newer synthetic diamonds and it does occur in nature. However due to it's rarity and ease of lab production, commercial amounts are almost always man made. Moissanite is extremely close to diamond in qualities such as hardness and brilliance.
It can be seen that there are very viable modern synthetic and lab created diamonds on the market. Many are identical to diamonds except for the most experienced jewellers, and moissanite cannot be told apart from diamonds by most jewellers without using specialised equipment.
When set into a wonderful setting by a good jeweller, synthetic gemstones of any type are a beautiful addition to your collection. And of course synthetic diamonds can be found at a considerable cost savings to the real thing. It is definitely worth considering a synthetic diamond next time you are shoppig for jewelry.
