The new policy covers D to F-colour stones of its Finest collection and VVS-clarity stones launched as a primary offering in August. The diamonds are created using chemical vapour deposition (CVD) and high pressure-high temperature (HPHT) annealing to improve the stones’ colour through a later heating-and-cooling process.
“It was important to us to be transparent with the consumer that the higher price per carat for a Finest stone is reflective of the additional refinement step,” a Lightbox spokesperson told Rapaport but said that any decision to make such disclosures rest with the producer.
Previously, Lightbox has not been declaring treatments stating that such treatment is only a step in the entire production process and does not affect the value of the stones.
A similar treatment method is used on its 1.5 to 2-carat classic line and with all stones in the standard category. According to a Lightbox spokesperson, all diamonds are supplied with a declaration.
The lab standard stones - roughly G to J - are “near colourless” and have VS clarity.
Lightbox stopped offering lab-created stones of up to 1 carat since it developed a cost-effective method of achieving the desired colours with bigger diamonds, but becomes more difficult as longer growing time could reduce the stone’s quality.
Meanwhile, the company also started disclosures for the standard pink and blue lab-created diamonds, both of which undergo electron-beam treatment and another heat-treating process for pinks.
However, standard white diamonds below 1-carat are not subjected to the treatment process.
The company has no plans for labeling products “as grown” which is commonly used in marketing diamonds that do not undergo post-synthesis treatments, according to the spokesperson who also said that Lightbox will not use it as “an excuse to not offer higher-quality products at affordable prices.”
“As we expand our lab-grown diamond product range to include stones of larger size and even higher qualities, we will continue to bring our fair and transparent linear pricing to all our high-quality lab-grown diamonds, and we will look at innovative ways of continuing to deliver exceptional quality at competitive prices,” the spokesperson added.
More reading:
International Grown Diamond Association launches IGDA 2.0
DeBeers' lab-created diamonds: direct to consumers – it was always going to happen
Lab-grown diamonds: 100 per cent diamond - Dick Garard
THE GREAT DIAMOND DEBATE
The Great Diamond Debate is a collection of special edition publications covering the international diamond market. They have attained enormous readership and respect worldwide - the digital versions have achieved more than 90k impressions, in addition to the print editions.
• Read: The Great Diamond Debate I: Natural vs Synthetic »
• Read: The Great Diamond Debate II: Fact vs Fiction »