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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Alice Fisher

Lab-grown diamonds: precious stones or cut-price sparklers?

Frank Ocean Pandora LGD LVMH
A natural diamond
Lab-grown diamonds look just like the real thing. Photograph: Mina De La O/Getty Images

Elizabeth Taylor wore a 68-carat version, Audrey Hepburn and Beyoncé sported the same yellow one and Shirley Bassey made a large slice of her fortune singing about them. Diamonds have long been the most coveted gem for anyone with enough money or status, but the growing popularity of a lab-grown version of these stones is now causing schisms in the jewellery world.

Lab-grown diamonds are created in weeks in plasma reactors and have only been recognised as diamonds by the US’s Federal Trade Commission since 2018, but they have already spawned a $6bn industry, a figure that is expected to double by 2025.

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