Winnipeg jewelers say while interest in lab-grown diamonds remains steady, but people have not given up on the real deal.
Lab-grown diamonds exploded on the jewelry scene a few years ago and to the naked eye they look identical to natural diamonds.
“You cannot tell the difference. The biggest difference is a natural diamond will hold its value because there are less and less diamonds being mined now,” Jeweller Alan Malbranck said.
Malbranck says technology has significantly advanced over the last few years, resulting in a dramatic price drop in lab-grown diamonds.
He pointed to an example of a 2.5-carat responsibly sourced diamond.
“It’s gem quality. It’s $33,000. A lab-grown diamond of this quality purchased about five years ago would’ve been $29,000 but right now it would be about $3,000,” he said.
However, for Jeff Appelt of Appelt’s Diamonds, while lab-grown gems have become more affordable, there’s still a lot in the real deal for his customers. “People want to spend a bit more to get value. What they’re getting with the lab is decreasing in value so much every year, so they want to maintain value. We are seeing a little bit of a shift back to the natural,” he said.
While lab-grown diamond prices have dropped significantly over the last five years, Appelt says the price of its natural counterpart has remained relatively steady.
“During the pandemic, the prices of diamonds dropped and then they stayed fairly consistent. Last year they dropped about 10-15 per cent and the last quarter of last year they started holding their value. Now they’re going up again,” he said.
Appelt and Malbranck say they support their clients in whatever type they want to buy.
“Now we are finding a balance between responsibly sourced natural diamonds and lab diamonds,” Malbranck said.
— with files from Global’s Teagan Rasche
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