well, all diamonds look unimpressive when uncut, and only look impressive after they are cut.









the first two are naturals, the second two are synthetics. i had trouble finding synthetics in high-end precision cuts.

for me, its not really about the fact that naturals are more expensive than synthetics, synthetics are expensive enough. the material is the same, the only real difference is that one has been mined, with all the implications of diamond mining, while the other has been created in the lab by scientists and engineers.

what you see in the end is the cut and the material. its curious that it matters so much where the material came from in the case of diamonds. when people buy a golden ring, i wonder it happens how often they ask if the gold is freshly mined or if it used to be a golden coin. as long as the gold is real gold and the ring is nicely crafted, people dont care. but with diamonds its a really big issue.

what matters the most to me is not if its a synthetic or natural diamond, but in the case of a natural diamond, i want to know that its not a blood diamond and that it has been mined in humane conditions. what i like about synthetics is the fancy colors, which are extremely rare in naturals, and that they are less of a burden to the environment. naturals still dominate when it comes to large high-clarity white diamonds. but the material is the same to me. what you see is the clarity, color, cut and size.