Hydrothermal Emeralds, Sapphires, and Other Lab Grown Gemstones

At Valeria's Secret we offer fine jewellery with ethically sourced mined and lab-grown gemstones. An interesting fact that not everyone knows about is that nowadays everyone can afford to wear beautiful, large and exceptional quality genuine emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and other gems which are lab-grown. I want to point out emeralds in particular here because mined clear emeralds with minor inclusions and the right hue are an extremely rare find, making them literally not affordable for most people. I could even safely argue that a lot of customers have never seen mined clear premium quality emeralds in person. Large sapphires and rubies with good clarity and colour characteristics are also way too expensive for most, whereas their lab-grown counterparts will surprise you with how indistinguishable they are from mined stones, but budget-friendly.

Because gemmology - science of gems is highly complex, like any proper science, it is unaccessible to most people meaning they cannot easily make sense of it. Lab-grown gems therefore can be easily misunderstood by jewellery shoppers and if they are seen as 'being less than', it's mostly due to specific marketing campaigns or plainly speaking 'discrimination' against lab-grown gems and 'gossiping' about them on social media and other customer-oriented channels. Lab-grown gems are often referred to as 'synthetic' which is not the most accurate way of describing them, however, it successfully alters their perception not in their favour.

Lab-grown gems are crystals of the same elements as found in nature with the same chemical composition and structure. It means they are as durable and as beautiful as mined gems, and in most cases exceed their natural counterparts' characteristics such as size, purity, clarity, and colour for the price you will pay per carat. Lab-grown gems have nothing to do with coloured glass or Cubic Zirconia which are indeed synthetic, not as durable and can be easily visually distinguished from real gemstones. GIA defines lab-grown gems as synthetic gem material that is "made in a laboratory, but which shares virtually all chemical, optical, and physical characteristics of its natural mineral counterpart, though in some cases, namely synthetic turquoise and synthetic opal, additional compounds can be present." It is more than clear from this definition that the difference between lab-grown and mined gems is indeed too minor to be considered significant and both can be equally referred to as natural. Compare Oxford dictionaries definitions of natural (existing in nature; not made or caused by humans) vs synthetic (artificial; made by combining chemical substances rather than being produced naturally by plants or animals, it also refers to something fake). While substances are being combined together by humans in order to create lab-grown gems, it's important to notice how inadequate and confusing the use of 'synthetic' is for the circumstance (partly due to the Oxford definition being out of date). It would also imply as a matter of course, for example, that babies conceived trough IVF are synthetic rather than natural... To give yet another example, lab-grown sapphires are as much sapphires as carrots grown in your garden are carrots compared to the ones found in the wild. However, it's the difference itself between the two types of carrots and two types of sapphires that is predominantly man-made or shall I say linguistic (based on the meaning one attributes to their origins)? Interestingly, greenhouse vegetables often look more appetising than their wild counterparts to make the comparison between gems and vegetables an even closer match.

In order to create gemstones in a lab, the very chemical ingredients that compose natural gems are placed together while the environments under which gemstones are formed in nature are being duplicated too. Once the required combination of chemical and environmental factors is achieved, gemstone crystals start to grow naturally over the course of about a year (the time may vary). As a result, the crystals have physical, chemical, and optical properties that are very similar or identical to those found in nature. Lab-grown gems are often indistinguishable from mined ones by non-gem experts and in some cases even gem experts aided by special tools and equipment may struggle to be sure of the gems' origins. Cutters cut away approximately 80% of the rough lab-grown crystals (which is more generous than cutting mined gems) to get faceted gems that are often cleaner and brighter than the finest mined gems. The price difference between the finest lab-grown and mined emerald or sapphire of the same size and quality can be as much as $10,000 per carat!

Below are the most common ways how crystals of real gemstones can be grown in labs. 

The hydrothermal growth process is slow and expensive but it creates excellent quality gems which are almost indistinguishable from natural gems even under the microscope. Because this process requires heat and pressure, it imitates the conditions deep in the earth that result in the formation of natural gems. Nutrients are dissolved in a water solution, and then synthetic crystals form as the solution cools down. It’s the only method for successfully growing quartz and the best way of growing emeralds, corundum and other gems.

Growing a gem by the flux growth method also requires patience and significant investment. Crystal growth can take up to a year, and the equipment is very expensive. But the results are well worth the time and effort. Emerald, ruby, sapphire, alexandrite, and spinel can be created through a flux-growth process. Flux is a solid material that, when melted, dissolves other materials in the same way that water dissolves sugar. As the dissolved chemical solution gradually cools down, crystals form.

Flame fusion or Verneuil process is the first method used for growing commercially successful gems. This process involves dropping powdered chemicals through a high-temperature flame, where it melts and falls onto a rotating pedestal to produce a synthetic crystal. Today it remains the least expensive and most common way to make gems such as corundum and spinel.

The lab-grown gems we use in our jewellery at Valeria's Secret are either hydrothermal or flux growth gems (formed under conditions most similar to those occurring in the wild) which guarantee their exceptional quality and ethical production. Our jewellery and gems also come with certificates of authenticity.

It is worth mentioning that apart from better price, lab-grown gems are also a more ethical alternative to mined gems because they do not require digging mines and scarring the surface of our planet for the sake of getting the gems out, there's no underpaid miners risking their lives involved and no money laundering schemes or 'bloody' political scandals. You can rest assured when purchasing lab-grown gems that you're not compromising on luxury while significantly saving, you are also actively supporting science as well as transparent and ethical business practices. So, we love our lab-grown gems as much as we do our mined gems if not more. Moreover, at Valeria's Secret we offer lab-grown gems and jewellery for a fraction of the price compared to most other retailers, look here. Get in touch with me if you have any further questions.