It's a Bird, It's a Plane, No Wait a Minute What the Heck Is It?

Why don't you write?  Why don't you call?  I know, I know I sound like my Jewish mother.  But it is always amusing to me that so many of you tell me you read my blogs but no one ever leaves me any comments.  Well, that's not entirely true.  I have a couple of spammers who routinely leave comments on my blog.  Actually one of them does it over and over (at least it looks to be coming from the same guy's Google+ account).  Inevitably these spam comments consist of a mostly unintelligible sentence but always with a link to another site at the end of it.  And, also inevitably, these sites are mostly jewelry sites. 

18k Yellow Gold and 1.11 ct. Ruby Ring

I always try to track these guys down a bit because some of them seem to link to legitimate jewelry stores and I will usually email them to stop spamming me.  But a lot of them take you to a variety of on line sites, usually where there is no real way to contact anyone unless you're going to make an actual purchase.

The other day I spent a few minutes trying to follow another one and it led me to a website that was selling.....well I'm not entirely sure what they were selling.  But here is their description of what they are selling:

"Diamond NSCD Nano Carbon Simulate Diamond Diamond Weight 2 carat Metal 925 Silver with 18K Gold Plated Clarity VVS1 Cutting: 3 ex Antwerp Cut Fine Jewelry all made by Hands from Skillful Craftsman with over 20 Years Experience in Jewelry Production; Life Time Warranty: Free Replacement if Simulated Diamond Ever Fades!! We promise free maintenance & servicing for whole life Ring Replacement if there is any Damage How are NSCD lab-created diamonds produced? Lab-created diamonds are produced by utilizing two gem-quality diamond creation processes: High Pressure-High Temperature (HPHT) and Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD). In both processes, a small diamond seed is placed in an environment that contains carbon, the atomic component diamond. Under suitably controlled conditions, the diamond grows, atom-by-atom, layer-by-layer, recreating nature's process. How do NSCD lab-created diamonds and natural diamonds compare? Both have the same physical, chemical and optical properties and emerge as rough diamonds. Both have the same hardness, specific gravity, refractive index and dispersion factor; are polished using the same equipment and techniques; and have the same brilliance, sparkle, fire and scintillation. Both are, in fact, diamonds. How do NSCD lab-created diamonds and diamond-like materials compare? They don't. Cubic zirconium, moissanite, and diamond-coated materials, are not diamond. These are called "simulants" in the industry. These materials have completely different physical properties compared to diamond. ABOUT LAB CREATED DIAMONDS Since diamonds are mined from deep within the earth as carbon is pressurized to produce the miracle gem it takes centuries to create. As science would have it however, now it is possible to speed up the process creating a diamond in a fraction of the time. Hybrid diamonds are not fakes, but have a real diamond layer. NSCD DIAMONDS ARE NOT ZIRCONIA"

There is so much deception included in this description that it is mind boggling.  They have thrown in just enough legitimate information to seem real but then try to mask exactly what they are selling.  Many of my long term readers are aware of my descriptions about synthetic diamonds which you can read here.  Synthetic diamonds are man made diamonds that have exactly the same chemical and physical makeup as a natural diamond except that they are man made.  They are, while less expensive than natural diamonds, not cheap by any means as the processes used to produce them are fairly complex and expensive.  

First of all please understand they didn't have a product listed on their site that was more than $100.  Obviously that should be the first sign that you should be cautious.  But let's look a little more closely at what they are saying:

"How are NSCD lab-created diamonds produced? Lab-created diamonds are produced by utilizing two gem-quality diamond creation processes: High Pressure-High Temperature (HPHT) and Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD). In both processes, a small diamond seed is placed in an environment that contains carbon, the atomic component diamond. Under suitably controlled conditions, the diamond grows, atom-by-atom, layer-by-layer, recreating nature's process"

So they correctly tell you in this set of sentences how synthetic diamonds are created.  The only problem is they don't actually tell you how their NSCD diamonds are created.  They make it sound like they are using the same processes but never actually say that. Here is the next bit:

"How do NSCD lab-created diamonds and natural diamonds compare? Both have the same physical, chemical and optical properties and emerge as rough diamonds. Both have the same hardness, specific gravity, refractive index and dispersion factor; are polished using the same equipment and techniques; and have the same brilliance, sparkle, fire and scintillation. Both are, in fact, diamonds."

Without a lab test to determine most of these statements there is no way to confirm any of what they are saying.  They offer no proof on their site, no testing data, etc. The statement that both are in fact diamonds is completely disproved as we get further into their description so we'll get back to that. 

"How do NSCD lab-created diamonds and diamond-like materials compare? They don't. Cubic zirconium, moissanite, and diamond-coated materials, are not diamond. These are called "simulants" in the industry. These materials have completely different physical properties compared to diamond."

They have this part right too.  Materials such as cubic zirconia, and moissanite are simulants.  Note that they also include "diamond-coated materials" in this description as this also ties into the end of the piece.  So let's get to that end right now and see what is really going on here:

"ABOUT LAB CREATED DIAMONDS Since diamonds are mined from deep within the earth as carbon is pressurized to produce the miracle gem it takes centuries to create. As science would have it however, now it is possible to speed up the process creating a diamond in a fraction of the time. Hybrid diamonds are not fakes, but have a real diamond layer. NSCD DIAMONDS ARE NOT ZIRCONIA"

Another Photo of my Opal and Ruby Pendant

And herein lies the most important line in the entire piece: "Hybrid diamonds are not fakes, but have a real diamond layer."  So apparently what they are selling is a "hybrid diamond".  I'm not exactly sure what this is because I've never heard it used in gemological circles before.  Perhaps it's a diamond that runs on both gas and electricity! But note the second part in which they say they "have a real diamond layer".  Ok I got it.  Their product has some layer of diamond on it.  Okay so let's go back up to here: "Both are, in fact, diamonds".  Wait a minute!  If their product has a real diamond layer how is it in fact a diamond???? If it's some other material with a layer of diamond dust (which I am being generous by assuming this might actually be what it is) then it most assuredly is not a diamond.  "Cubic zirconium, moissanite, and diamond-coated materials, are not diamond."  Umm, that's right but they just said that their material has a diamond layer, which I'm pretty certain means that it is diamond coated so if it's not diamond in this statement how does the statement "both are, in fact, diamonds" fit into this? 

As a gemologist I'm able to look at this pile of misinformation, double speak, outright lies and phony sales hype and recognize it for exactly what it is.  Unfortunately most people aren't gemologists.  This gets me back to what I continually am talking about on this blog.  Buy only from people you trust implicitly.  For the most part online merchants in my industry are going to push the truth as far as they can.  And for goodness sake, if the product is priced at $50 and claims to have a half carat "diamond" use your heads.  It's not going to be any kind of a diamond!!