Diamonds Gone Rogue

If I gave you a diamond that looks like a diamond, is chemically same as a diamond, and when you show it to your jeweler he says it is a real diamond will you pay diamond price for it? Next if I tell you that the diamond we are talking about was made in a laboratory will you change you mind?

I wrote about cultured pearls as a rogue innovation in an earlier post. In that context, pearls could be produced in a farm. A similar innovation has emerged in the diamond industry too. It is now possible to manufacture a diamond in a laboratory in a short period.

The process involves producing a real diamond that is no different from the diamonds found naturally. The only difference is that instead of letting mother nature takes its course through geological processes to produce a diamond, we can now produce a flawless diamond with exact chemical composition as a natural diamond in a laboratory. Think of it as a way to accelerate the natural process of producing diamonds. Although natural diamonds often have flaws, cultured diamonds are flawless. As a result, a cultured diamonds can be as good or better than natural diamonds. Moreover, even experts find it hard to differentiate a cultured diamond from a natural diamond.

DeBeers controls a majority of diamond supply in the world. Imagine the impact of cultured diamonds. If DeBeers loses control of the diamond supply due to widespread acceptance of cultured diamonds, what do you think will be the effect on diamond industry profits?  From where I see it, a rogue innovation is headed towards the diamond industry.