In what might be the first case in Australia, a parcel of yellow diamonds has been identified as synthetic even though they were purchased as natural diamonds.

Australia has been added to the list of countries that have reported incidents of undisclosed synthetic diamonds. Gem Studies Laboratory (GSL) detected five fancy yellow lab-created diamonds, sized from 20 points to 35 points, in a parcel that had been submitted for testing.

According to GSL director Bill Sechos, the stones were sent for testing for colour treatments and the client had not considered that they might have been synthetic diamonds.

“They [diamonds] were booked in and placed in the queue as per normal and the standard preliminary work was done on them such as weighing, fluorescence levels and measurements before going to the graders and gemmologists for examination,” Sechos said, adding that it was at this stage that the stones’ synthetic nature was discovered.

The client was consequently informed, reporting procedures were halted, and the diamonds were returned with no further work performed.

Sechos said this was the first time such an incident had occurred at GSL. “Up to now, it’s been considered a rare occurrence. However, who knows what will happen in the future,” he explained.

“Australia is catching up with the rest of the world. We are now seeing the treatments that have been reported in overseas journals on a semi-regular basis, and it seems that the synthetic diamonds that have been reported overseas have finally reached our shores too.”

Sechos predicted that synthetic and treated diamonds would become a more common occurrence in the Australian marketplace over time. “Anything that prompts suspicion should be investigated by a laboratory,” he advised.

Jeweller has previously reported on cases of undisclosed diamond mixing in India, the largest supplier of diamonds to Australia and New Zealand, which prompted a number of industry bodies in the country to launch a campaign to combat the issue.

It was also announced last year that Gemological Institute of America (GIA) synthetic diamond detection machines would be made available to members of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB), including the Diamond Dealers Club of Australia (DDCA).

DDCA president Rami Baron explained that while the club would receive a machine, he had not been given an exact date. “Due to their [the WFDB’s] needs for this machine in high-volume diamond centres, we understand there will be a delay in our region,” Baron said.