Bacca Pearls

We love cultured pearls, sure - they give us the ability to create gorgeous unique pearl jewelry because there are so many shapes, sizes and colors. But cultured Diamonds? We’re not so sure.

Cultured freshwater pearls begin when a small pearl shell is placed in a mussel. With time and attention from a pearl farmer, a pearl will grow inside the mussel. You can read more about cultured pearls on Bacca’s About Our Pearls page.

Similarly, cultured diamonds begin with a diamond chip, which is then subjected to extremely high temperatures and pressures in order to replicate the natural growing process of a diamond. The diamond grows with perfect clarity to the desired size in a laboratory. Gemesis, the company doing this, is actually succeeding in creating fancy colored diamonds. For example, a naturally occurring 1.0 carat yellow diamond might cost $20,000 - but a Gemesis yellow diamond of the same size costs about $6,000. (A Gemesis yellow diamond is pictured to the right)

The technology for laboratory created diamonds has been around since the 1950’s, when Apollo Diamond Inc, the other main cultured diamond company in America, began growing colorless diamonds only used for industrial use (think saws that cut your marble slab kitchen counter top).  But it was only recently that these companies were able to create gem quality diamonds, hence an uproar with companies like DeBeers - who are obviously worried about the effect this will have on their business.

We can’t really blame DeBeers, cultured diamonds are new, and we can’t really guess what the effect on the diamond market will be. But, aren’t there are always people who will want the “REAL” thing? Just as there are always people who will want black tahitian pearls instead of dyed black freshwater pearls? Start with the manmade… then upgrade to the natural when you can afford it. What do you think? Would you buy a cultured diamond? Leave us your comments!!

For more information on the controversy surrounding cultured diamonds checkout Jennifer Mulrean’s column DollarWise, “Man-made diamonds: a girl’s new best friend?“

To read more about Gemesis: http://www.gemesis.com/index.cfm
To read more about Apollo: https://www.shopapollo.com/index.html