Saturday, August 9, 2008

Some examples of lab grown gemstone crystals.





Many times when I use the term "lab grown" in relation to emeralds, rubies, and sapphires, people do not readily understand that these gemstones are grown in a laboratory that duplicates the conditions in the earth (as much as possible) in order to "grow" the gemstone crystals. This is the same way gemstones are formed naturally, we just duplicate the process under lab conditions which gives us emeralds, rubies, and sapphires with perfect color and no inclusions.


Mr. Chatham started this process in 1938 (!) when he grew emeralds for the first time. We obtained these gemstone crystals from Chatham labs in California. FYI - it takes a year to grow the emeralds and three months to grow rubies and sapphires.


Because we have so much confidence in the lab grown gemstones, we put a lifetime warranty on them against chipping or breaking. The sapphires and rubies are the same hardness as natural ones - a 9 on the Mohs scale which is second only to diamonds.


Here are pictures of emerald, ruby, and padparadschah sapphies followed by a group photo of lab grown examples of each that have been faceted into gemstones.




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