Identifying NATURAL vs LAB Created Stones

In this week's Unboxing, Natalie is joined by Elizabeth (the Geologist) in a Q&A about how to identify the difference between natural and lab-created stones.

JTV is one of the leading experts on gemstones and is the best source on YouTube for all things gem related. Featuring gem history, the science behind the stones, gemstones in pop culture, and much more, you too can become a gem expert by immersing yourself in JTV’s channel. Natalie, our host, is a Graduate Gemologist and an Applied Jewelry Professional.

[crystalomic]

My wedding ring is all lab grown gems and honestly, I prefer it over it being real. If my wedding ring was all natural, we would have never been able to afford it, let alone it even existing (got some big pieces of Alexandrite on it). I love Lab created gems!

[kconnor]

I think that this one episode taught me more about gems than any other video that I’ve ever watched on your channel. Not to say that your other videos didn’t teach me, but I never realized how easy and/or difficult it can be to actually know what you are getting.

[samrodriguez]

These videos have given me hope. After a long day of school, I love to lay down and watch this channel, thanks JTV I love you

[BlackHoleForge]

If there's a spider in that box that was grown in a lab, you might be the new Spider Woman.

[nak]

Since Fluorite has been used as lenses for telescopes and microscopes, I'm sure lab created Fluorite has been made for these purposes. Also, I like that natural yellow Sapphire crystal.

[markfluharty]

I am a jeweller silver/goldsmith. First let me just say unlike many in my profession I love lab created stones. I agree totally with what you said that if a customer looks they can find a lab created stone to suit what ever desire they want in it, and not have to wait a million years to get it. As far as I am concerned natural gems are way over priced and should never go as high as some of them do regardless of how nice they are. With that said, I do like natural stones as well and will use those in my jewellery most of the time. But I still like to make pieces normal people can afford and that is the bulk of my business. Not everybody has 20 grand to buy an emerald or ruby with. This is where Lab created gems are outstanding for and many of my clients think they are almost always more beautiful then a natural stone. The only exception is diamonds and even those are getting way better in the lab. Soon I can see lab stones bringing the price of natural stones down a notch in price as more of them are sold. My favourite lab grown gems are rubies and emeralds. You can get emeralds with inclusions made into them that you just cannot tell the difference from a natural stone with the naked eye. Now I don't believe every gem looks better created in a lab. There are some gems that lab created stones just cannot copy the beauty of. But many of the high end gems out there they can. At the end of the day to me, it is all about how they are presented in a piece of jewellery. When I create a piece of jewellery weather I am using a 50.00 lab gem or not, I treat it with the same respect and design approach that I would a 50k sapphire. What makes any piece of jewellery special is how it looks on the client wearing it and the pride they feel from owning it. Price only comes into play when deciding the budget you have to spend on a piece of jewellery. It should have nothing to do with the quality of the piece that was created by a real craftsman. Of course that is all just my opinion and practices. Thank you for the video.

[pennymartinez]

I have a lab-created opal bracelet that is stunning. People can't really tell the difference from a glance but I really like it and actually forget that they are not "natural" stones.

[joshharris]

Lab created alexandrite, ruby, YAG, and others are used in lasers as well.

[yeahweburnstuff]

Love Elizabeth! She's so calm and quietly confident 😇

[johncrumpley]

Very nice presentation Elizabeth and Natalie. Having watched a couple of videos, I'm now a subscriber.👍🏼

As a cutter, I'm always working with both natural and lab-created. Like Elizabeth, I don't like inclusions in the final product, but they are indeed a fact-of-life in the business.
I do like the Q&A format for a subject such as this one, as it keeps both the viewer and the presenters on-point.
My favorite lab-created gemstone has to be the ruby. It cuts and polishes very well and the clarity and color are amazing. I recently had a friend who is fairly new to faceting tell me that he really wanted a nice cut stone to mount for his sister... I pulled a lab-created ruby out of my "secret drawer" and he did a fantastic job with it.

[keithyinger]

I have a Reactor watch. Not sure what kind of crystal face it has but its Tough! I work on a farm as maintenance and all my last watches died from somehow getting the crown ripped out. When I saw Reactor watches had a screw down crown i was sold. I've been wearing it for 2 years now and amazingly the crystal face only has one tiny little scratch. My last Citizen watch that got the crown ripped out once, repaired and ripped out a second time a year later was all scratched up after 2 years. This isn't really supposed to be an infomercial for the watch but more a testament to the toughness of the lab grown crystal.

[blessedone]

I have a lab created Tanzanite ring it's very pretty but it doesn't do it for me. I also have a natural Tanzanite ring the color is amazing the color can't be duplicated. Love it!

[slonewby]

Very informative video for the novice enthusiast! Thanks for your expertise and willingness to share info

[obiwanmaui]

So interesting to know more about lab grown gemstones. Truthfully I didn’t realize it was pretty much a sterile way of copying nature producing gems. Thought was just similar, but not same chemically

[wendywander]

Thank you, Elizabeth! Thank you, Natalie! My favorite lab created gemstone is Alexandrite. My birthday is in June, and i love the gemstone, but there's no way I could ever afford a Russian Alexandrite.

[Toddster]

Buying good lab created gems is not an easy, simple affair. You have to search (same as with earth mined) and find what you truly want. Synthetic rubies and sapphires for example can be had for as little as $10–but the colors are muted or garish and they tend to be dark. Finer quality corundums (ruby, sapphire) are more like $200+, and look much richer and vibrant, but there are still vacancies, such as Kashmire/Ceylon blue sapphires—I’ve still not seen a good synthetic sapphire in this coveted blue shade.

Highlights among lab created colored gems to me are hydrothermal emeralds. They now make them in both Columbian (vibrant bright bluish green) and Zambian (darker herb green) varieties. And you can hunt and find them with obvious inclusions, that while not fully matching the inclusion “jardine” of earth mined emeralds, do give the stones more personality and scattered light reflecting patterns, more like earth mined beryl (emerald).

[ArmandCury]

I think that is the BEST matter of discussion of all!
You MUST be respected to be informed and to know if the gemstone is real or fake.
The market is so gentle (in an excessive way) that they even the word "synthetic" for ARTIFICIAL "stones".
The fact is that the REAL, the NATURAL gemstones is what will have the best price and premium above all.
Since your company is reliable, that is a favour even to yourself to spread the word:
The more people know how to recognize and separate the NATURAL ones from the artificial ones, that will be a great thing even for business and businessmen in general.
Reliable companies have nothing to hide.
And those should be the greatest interested in teaching people about that and letting people well informed and cultured.
I really adore the gemologist of this video. She is a high skilled professional. And an example of great ethical values.
Not only economical values, but she praises the ethics as well.

[bookworm]

I love lab grown gemstones. They’re always perfect and best part? Affordable! The only gemstone I buy natural are opals. They are much prettier than lab ones.

[deborahduthie]

There was a video of the Diamond Making Process on YouTube. The Russian Process has Diamonds in cylindrical refractory canisters in a row to make the soak or annealing process viable, best price for the quality.

[jacYouTube]

I've always loved the color of turquoise but I think I would prefer a real stone because knowing that it came naturally made is psychologically kind of cool to think about