The latest news is that De Beers is now venturing into the lab-grown diamond industry. For argument sake, if you have a powerful brand worth $100 million and then you add imitations to your brand, which basically have less resale value, you’ve managed to devalue your main brand by 50%.

All is fair in love and business, though one might shudder to think what will happen if companies such as Tiffany & Co. or Graff, will start selling lab grown diamonds.

I suppose one could say that a lab grown diamond is a real diamond. If it is diamond material, with the same hardness and the same ability to scintillate, sparkle and shine, then how is one to argue? Diamonds are used industrially and also for jewelry. I would not be one to argue that a lab created diamond is less suited for this purpose than a diamond created in the bowels of the earth. However, a lab created diamond, for me personally, does not carry the same sentimentality and meaning as one created naturally under ground. For most uses, I do not see much of a difference, but for an engagement ring that promises a lifetime of love, I would prefer the latter.