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Synthetic Diamonds
The Final Frontier
“Space……the final frontier. These
are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its five year mission:…to
explore strange new worlds…to seek out new life and new
civilizations…, to
boldly go where no man has gone before”. Those were the opening
words spoken by William Shatner from his 1960’s hit “Star
Trek”. Anybody who is old enough will remember how exciting
it was when Star Trek came on. Even though I was just a little
kid
I still remember running through the house screaming at the top
of my lungs “DAD..!, DAD! STAR TREK IS ON, STAR TREK IS
ON!”
Together we would sit in our living room and explore those new
worlds. It almost felt like we were on the Starship Enterprise
ourselves,
one of its 430 officers or crew.
I’ve always been fascinated with the unknown; with new ideas,
new inventions, new discoveries. Every day I marvel at mankind’s
ingenuity. For example, who would have thought 30 years ago we’d
actually be holding a cordless hand-held device that allows us not
only to speak but see each other from great distances? Not me! Maybe
Gene Roddenberry the creator of Star Trek had some idea. How else
would he show Captain Kirk conversing with Scotty or Mr. Spock back
on the Enterprise from a planet he was just beamed down to. (P.S.
To all you inventors I’m still waiting for the transporter).
In 1954 General Electric produced the first synthetic diamonds.
A synthetic diamond is a rock that has all the properties (durability,
hardness, refractive index, etc) of a natural diamond but was made
by man. Not to be confused with simulants (those that look similar
to a diamond but don’t have the same properties) like glass,
cubic zirconia, moissanite. Think about it, man was able to create
in a laboratory what it took Mother Nature 100 million years (minimum
time required for a natural diamond to incubate) to do. WOW! But
as much as that blows your mind I’ll tell you something more
incredible! What didn’t happen in 1955? Can you guess? That’s
right, no synthetic diamonds in the market place! Not in 56, 57,
58, or in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s or early 90’s!
Man figures out how to make diamonds then man doesn’t do anything
with the discovery? Why? Let’s look at the facts. Right after
General Electric learns how to synthesize a diamond (which by the
way wins a Nobel Prize for P.W. Bridgeman of their company) G.E
is interviewed about the details and they say “We’ve only
learned how to grow industrial quality (not sufficient quality to
be cut into a gem for a piece of jewelry but rather to be used for
drill bits, semi-conductors, and such).” It would be
16 long pain staking years before man would not only walk on the
moon but create a gem quality diamond the likes of Mother Nature.
G.E is interviewed again and I quote “We’ve conquered
the next hurdle; we can now produce transparent gem quality diamonds
in an attractive size. There’s only one problem.
They cost more to grow than to find, cut and polish.”
End of story? Not hardly! Another quarter century would
go by when a little company called Gemesis Corporation would raise
their hand and say “I think I can do it. I think I can figure
out how to grow a diamond cheaper than it costs to find one.”
The problem was very few people were listening and those that did
just scoffed. “If General Electric in partnership with
DeBeers can’t figure out the secret to growing diamonds at
a profit there’s no way some little start up company is going
to figure it out!” Know what?! THEY WERE WRONG!
Flash forward to present day. Not only has Gemesis figured
out how to grow white diamonds but they’ve figured out how
to grow the tremendously expensive fancy colors--the blues, canary
yellows, and oranges and even the million dollar per carat reds!
I know what you’re probably saying, “Fred, if this is
true why isn’t it in all the newspapers, on TV and radio?”
Well, the reason is only now have companies like Gemesis grown enough
raw diamonds to be able to meet the inevitable demand onslaught!
It makes no sense to go public when you don’t have enough supply
to meet the demand.
The Interview
Two weeks ago I had the honor and privilege to talk to Carlos Valeiras
(the President and CEO of Gemesis). Here is a portion of my
interview.
Question:
Mr. Valeiras how exciting it must be to be at the forefront of technology.
How did you get involved?
Answer:
“First and foremost I want to thank you for taking time from
your busy schedule to let me share with the world what our little
company has been up to for the last few years. The initial
ground work for synthetic diamonds began for us with trials that
had been done in Russia and the University of Florida in 1996.
It was a short time after that I was approached with the opportunity
to be an investor. It was only recently that I was offered
the position of CEO.
Question:
Mr. Valeiras I know you’ve unlocked the secrets to growing
diamonds that encompass all the colors of the rainbow, so what will
you serve up as a first course to the diamond buying public?
Answer:
While certainly there is a strong demand for the whites, the canary
diamonds (yellow) are easier to grow and will offer the best price
point to the public. Using your words, that will be our first
course along with the oranges.
Question:
What kind of price breaks will you be able to offer from the naturals?
Answer:
The canaries and oranges will be offered at about 1/3 the going
price of the naturals.
Question:
You said that you can grow the whites. What’s keeping
you from offering the whites right now?
Answer:
We can currently produce about 600cts of rough a month and we’re
moving every piece! Since the canaries are more profitable
for us and offer the best savings to the end consumer we’re
not going to add the whites till we can fulfill the demand for the
yellows.
Question:
When do you see that happening?
Answer:
We had originally projected this summer but we’re only scratching
the surface on the yellow and orange demand. I don’t
think we will be able to turn our attention to the whites till next
summer (2004). But we’re also looking at the blues.
There is a strong demand for them which must be filled before we
go white on a commercial scale. We know the success of our
company depends on being able to offer anything the public wants.
Question:
How big is the finished product you’re ending up with?
Answer:
We can currently offer anywhere from _ct. to 1 3/4ct. In
the future we’ll be adding larger core areas (device needed
to grow the crystals) so we could theoretically grow any size.
Question:
Final question, how would anybody know they are looking at a synthetic
versus a natural?
Answer:
All of our synthetics will most likely be laser inscribed identifying
them as lab created. The diamonds will be marketed under the brand
name Gemesis Cultured™ Diamond.
The Synthetics Arrive
After my interview with Carlos Valeiras he promptly sent over a
parcel of yellows and oranges for me to view (see photographs below).
When I opened the packages all I can tell you is I was overwhelmed!
These synthetics are beautiful! I looked at them in different lighting
conditions and ran the usual tests*. When I was done I set up an
unscientific study where I asked people around my office what they
thought. Their responses ranged from “oh my, how gorgeous”
to “wow what are those?” Everyone I talked to had their
breath taken away!
In closing, I want to congratulate the folks at Gemesis for their
wonderful work and for taking us to a place no man has gone before!
Note: All photographs were taken by world renown designer
and photographer-Jose Garcia
*For all you scientists out there who want all the technical studies
I suggest reviewing the article “Gemesis Laboratory-created
Diamonds” by Gems and Gemology winter 2002.
by Fred Cuellar, author of the best-selling book "How to Buy a Diamond."
More questions? Ask the Diamond Guy®
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