Previous Press Releases
 Synthetic diamonds have hit the headlines in both Trade and Consumer press over the past few months. They are now becoming a major concern to Valuers and Diamond Graders as even the most highly skilled and experienced gemmologists have no way of guaranteeing that they can identify modern synthetics without expensive equipment.
The Birmingham Assay Office, which offers both AnchorCert Diamond Certification and SafeGuard Valuations through its subsidiary company SafeGuard Quality Assurance Ltd, is one of the few organisations in the world to make the major investment required to ensure that all diamonds can be screened prior to valuing or grading.
The Assay Office’s investment paid off this week when a 1.27 carat intense yellow diamond sent in for a SafeGuard valuation was identified as being synthetic. The diamond was set in a solitaire ring and after having been picked up as suspect at the initial screening process subsequently proved to be synthetic. The attached picture shows the diamond as seen through the sophisticated 'DiamondView' equipment developed specifically for the purpose by DTC. The unmistakeable structure of a diamond produced by a High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) laboratory process, with a seed crystal at the centre, is clearly visible.
SafeGuard says 'This justifies the major investment in both equipment and expertise to make sure we can identify synthetics and treated diamonds. This stone did not have the distinctive fluorescence often associated with synthetics and would have been impossible to identify with complete certainty without our specialist equipment. Our credibility as a Valuation service would be seriously jeopardised if we could not identify these stones.'
The ring was purchased in Birmingham in the year 2000. The customer had no idea that his diamond was synthetic. The retailer no doubt sold it in good faith.
It is the first mis-sold synthetic that SafeGuard have seen; there is no doubt that it will not be the last.
Marion Wilson: Marketing Manager 0121 236 6951
Topical Link
Horizon - Diamond Labs BBCi Best Link Horizon explores how scientists are making synthetic diamonds, and finds out how it is affecting the diamond mining industry www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2004/diamondlabs.shtml
Previous Releases >> |
