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Welcome to Edition 580 (Updated) of WINC, IDMA’s Weekly Internet News Collection – September 1, 2026

Edition 580 (Updated) Of WINCReading Time: 3 minutes
Key takeaways

• Scientists at De Beers examined a 6.87-carat lab-grown CVD diamond intentionally shaped to imitate a rough natural crystal.

• Analysis by the GIA identified key irregularities, including non-parallel faces and microscopic polishing lines, revealing its synthetic origin.

• There is currently no evidence of widespread switching, but screening instruments can be adapted for rough material if needed.

It was only a matter of time.

Rapaport reported earlier this week that scientists at De Beers examined a lab-grown 6.87-carat stone that growers intentionally shaped to imitate a rough natural-diamond crystal.

Edition 580 (Updated) Of WINC

The near-colorless stone is believed to be the first time creators of a synthetic chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond have shaped it to resemble a rough diamond, according to an article submitted by the De Beers UK science and technology team for the spring issue of Gems & Gemology, the quarterly journal of the Gemological Institute of America (GIA).

Synthetic stones manipulated to look like their rough natural counterparts are nothing new, but in the diamond trade, we’ve not yet encountered them.

In the colored gemstone trade, however, we see them quite often. Most are easy to spot, mostly because the perpetrators aren’t versed enough in mineralogy to produce a credible imitation. I’ve seen pieces of quartz, dyed green, to simulate a rough emerald crystal. In its perfect rough shape, a rough emerald crystal has six sides. The quartz imitations had only five sides, and there were several other ‘give-aways’ that would make keen observers smile knowingly.

The story of this synthetic ‘rough’ is no different. GIA’s analysis showed that it was “not a true octahedron, as only one set of opposing faces was parallel. Microscopic observation under differential interference contrast revealed extremely flat faces marked mainly by parallel polishing lines, unlike the growth steps and trigons typically seen on natural octahedral faces.”

Still, vigilance remains important. GIA said that this time, there is no evidence of widespread switching of synthetic for rough natural diamonds, but that existing screening instruments could be adapted for rough material if such incidents become more common.

The post Welcome to Edition 580 (Updated) of WINC, IDMA’s Weekly Internet News Collection – September 1, 2026 appeared first on Southern Jewelry News.



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