"CVD diamonds are identifiable due to their recognizable patterns of growth," said Tom Moses, senior vice-president of the Gemological Institute of America at a lecture on New Developments in Gemology at the Israel Diamond Exchange on March 19 as part of the US/International Diamond Week.
Before starting the lecture, Moses said he had discovered a new way of dealing with jet-lag: "Taking a walk around the trading hall managed to fill me with so much energy," he said. "Well done for creating this event, and for the synergy between the Israeli and the New York bourses. There's no doubt that the cooperation between you will have a good effect not just on your members but on the global diamond industry as a whole."
"Just a few months ago, we saw an attempted fraud on a large scale using synthetic stones". Photo: Fucs
"Well done for creating this event, and for the synergy between the Israeli and the New York bourses". Photo: Fucs.
IDE General Manager Moti Besser, who moderated the lecture, gave a short biography of Moses' career, while IDE President Yair Sahar thanked Moses deeply "for everything you have done for the Israeli and American diamond bourses. Meanwhile, DDC President Reuven Kaufman said he was "happy to know that behind the GIA's certificates there are good human beings like Tom Moses."
Moses stressed that synthetic diamonds were increasingly penetrating the trade in natural diamonds. "Just a few months ago, we saw an attempted fraud on a large scale using synthetic stones," he said.
Synthetic diamonds have been around since the 1950s in different industries as well as for research purposes, he explained. The machinery used to make synthetic stones had not changed a great deal in the past several decades and is based on the same technology that has been in place since the 1970s, he added.
"The most worrying aspect is color treatment of synthetics. There is now a separate market dealing in blue synthetic diamonds. Synthetic diamond manufacturers manage to create color diamonds relatively easily and through an extra process after they have been made it creates difficulties in identifying them." He said that mixing natural and synthetic diamonds in the same parcels created a challenge for the GIA's labs around the world.
Moses explained about the latest ways of identifying synthetics, the type of such stones available on the market, and the cooperation between the GIA and De Beers on the issue. "De Beers is a strong partner of ours and we have been working together for many years. They have built up a huge knowledge base on syntheticsthat is shared with us."
There are three types of synthetics, he explained. There are High Pressure-High Temperature (HPHT) created stones made in a process that replicates the conditions in the ground when natural diamonds are formed. There are Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) and the relatively new NPD process which makes synthetics via nanotechnology and developed in Japan for industry and for research purposes.
CVD-created diamonds have been undergoing considerable improvements in production in recent years, Moses said. However there are issues in the layer process of making them that cannot yet be dealt with by the manufacturers and that provide signs of their origin.
Moses ended his lecture on an upbeat note: "The GIA was founded in order to ensure the consumer confidence since they spend significant sums on diamonds. Our methods of identifying synthetics are continuously becoming more sophisticated. There are permanent characteristics in all the different kinds of syntheticsstones, and our labs do great work to ensure consumer confidence is not affected."
He added that the GIA is working on an identification kit for diamond companies regarding synthetics that will be available for diamond firms around the world, and available for purchase during the next two years.
