The provenance of diamonds has long been the mines. Having patiently been cultivated by the earth over millions of years, these rocks were prized as much for their clarity as their rarity. Then of course labs came along, muscled in on the earth's area of expertise and promised to grow diamonds in a petridish. Now, there are pressure cookers that hasten up the process and bake a diamond in flat 24 hours.

You could order your very own Koh-i-noor for a do the next day. Artificial diamonds are not today's news, but lab-made diamonds and the perfection they've achieved over decades of experimentation is. Top international jewellery bodies say they've finally succeeded in manufacturing stones that are "comparable to top natural diamonds" and they cannot be told apart from natural stones by either eye or magnifying loupe. It's what has inspired some jewellers to pass off the natural stuff for the quick-built proxies.

Lab-made diamonds cost about Rs 7 lakh a carat, compared to the Rs 15 lakh for the natural stone which is internally flawless in clarity, bears the finest colour — D — and has a superior cut. The faux variants cost as little as Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,000.

Factory-made diamonds arrived at the Indian shores late last year. It's a growing business, says Ashok Gajera, proprietor Laxmi Diamonds, who places the market cap of lab-made diamonds at US$ 0.5 billion. "However, not many know about high-quality man-made diamonds which can lead customers to be conned. I wouldn't recommend anyone exchanging their old jewellery for new designs," said Sanjay Shah, proprietor Nine Diam. Industry captains insists that consumers ask for a certificate for all the jewellery they buy.

As of now, Bakul Mehta, chairman of the Gemological Institute of India, says there are few synthetic diamonds in the market and most are sold as such. "But like in every industry there are some unscrupulous elements and it is best to buy all jewellery with a certificate to guard against being cheated."

From Florida to Surat, diamond factories are mushrooming. These manufacturing units cultivate rocks under high pressure in specialized equipment, using one of two methods: Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) or the High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) method. A natural, small diamond, which acts as the 'seed' is placed in a chamber containing carbon, and treated with other gases like methane. Over 24 hours, the gases deposit, solidify and the diamond grows—layer by layer and atom by atom, thus duplicating nature's process.

The website of Gemesis, one of the companies that manufactures diamonds via the CVD and HPHT methods, claims the only differentiator between the diamonds they produce and the natural stones is the point of origin. "Available in the purest Type IIa, colorless and rare, these diamonds possess the same exceptional cut, color and clarity, as well as identical chemical, optical and physical characteristics as high-quality mined diamonds," states the company. It also differentiates their factory-diamonds from faux such as cubic zirconia and moissanite, saying that the lab-made diamonds mimic the natural process of baking a diamond.

Adish Shah, director of Nine Jewels, says, it is important for the Indian jewellery industry to talk about man-made diamonds to protect the consumer. Experts from the diamond industry say both natural and man-made stones (with comparable physical, chemical and optical properties) emerge as rough diamonds. They have the same hardness, refractive index, specific gravity and dispersion factor and are polished using the same equipment and techniques. They have the same brilliance and sparkle. "Both are, in fact, diamond," proclaims the Gemesis website.

Newly developed man-made diamonds are likely to shake customer confidence but Gajera feels over time they will develop their own space in the market, and offer options for every rank and file of consumer. "The ones who will be afford the natural diamond, will do so and many young customers, say college-goers will buy the factory made diamonds," he predicts. Top brands with much at stake, he says will not indulge in mixing natural and man-made diamonds in jewellery.

The diamond had its place of pride. Slowly baked for a billion years, it signified a glorious past. For being the hardest, it offered a future that would last forever and beyond. Has that promise been broken?

The razzle dazzle

Advances in artificial-diamond-making technology have made lab-made diamonds indistinguishable from natural ones for all practical purposes. According to a research report of the Gemmological Institute of America (GIA), lab stones are 'comparable to top natural diamonds'

1. The real deal

Naturally occurring diamonds require immense temperatures and pressures and are typically found at depths of 140-190km below the earth's crust. They take 1-3.3 billion years to form and are pushed up to the earth's surface by geologic and tectonic forces. Extraction is expensive and makes up a large part of the cost

2. Lab-made diamonds

Made by chemical vapour deposition (CVD). This involves introducing a gas like methane into a vacuum chamber, then activating and breaking down molecules with microwaves. Carbon atoms accumulate on a flat (natural/ minted) diamond (seed). If nitrogen or boron is introduced into the chamber, yellow or blue crystals can be made

Made under high pressure, high temperature (HPHT). This method was first used by General Electric in 1954. It mimics the natural process of crystallizing carbon through intense heat and pressure deep within the earth. HPHT is costlier than CVD

3. Fakes

Cubic Zirconium (CZ) | Commonest faux diamond in market. Has been around since 1976. Generated from crystalline form of zirconium dioxide. Is hard, but not as much as a natural diamond. Optically flawless. Usually colourless

Moissanite | Glitters like diamond. Almost as hard. Its discoverer, Henri Moissan, was fooled into believing the substance he had located was diamond; 11 years later, he identified it as silicon carbide

# Detecting a fake

*Done through a device, Diamond Sure

*Has been installed by Gemmological Institute of India at the diamond bourse in Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai

*Device can check if a diamond is natural, lab-made or fake

Rs 80 | Cost of checking a stone

*Certification | GII issues certificates about the nature of diamonds. It receives diamonds through courier from across the country.