What Is The Difference Between Synthetic And Imitation Gems?

By Author: Samantha Rose
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A natural gemstone comes from the ground and is a product of nature, not of man.

The word synthetic is used to describe a gemstone made in a lab that has the same basic chemical composition as its natural counterpart. For example, synthetic ruby has the same chemical composition as natural ruby. It also has similar chemical, optical and physical properties.

Imitations, on the other hand, do not have the same chemical composition as the stones they resemble, and they may be made by nature or by man. Red glass, for example, can be a man-made imitation of ruby. Garnets used to mimic rubies would be natural imitations.

Since consumers tend to interpret the word synthetic differently than jewelers, people who sell synthetic stones usually prefer to describe them with terms such as created, lab-grown or man-made. Gemologist and natural stone dealers usually identify lab-grown stones as synthetic stones.

Cultured is sometimes used incorrectly as a synonym for lab-grown. The two terms however, are not equivalent. For example freshwater cultured pearls, culturing pearls is a more natural process than growing ...
... gems.

Synthetic gems are not just a recent phenomenon. Lab-grown ruby, the first synthetic, has been sold commercially since the early 1900's; if your great grand mother has some ruby jewelry, the stones could very well have been made in a laboratory. Today, lab-grown stones are even more common especially in birthstone jewelry and class rings. Synthetic stones are also found in designer jewelry, set with diamonds in gold or platinum. Some of the stones that are synthetically produced and sold to consumers in jewelry are:

Synthetic alexandrite
Synthetic amethyst
Synthetic chrysoberyl
Synthetic diamond
Synthetic emerald
Synthetic opal
Synthetic ruby
Synthetic sapphire
Synthetic turquoise
Synthetic pearls

Some stones call imitation stones synthetic. For example, imitation tanzanite may be sold as synthetic tanzanite because synthetic sounds better than imitation. Green CZ (cubic zirconia) is often called synthetic emerald. Green CZ is a lab-grown stone, but it's not synthetic emerald. It's synthetic CZ, which is much cheaper than lab-grown emerald.

In most countries, it's against the law to call a synthetic ruby, for example, simply a ruby. Not all countries, however, have laws like this and some stores don't follow the law. Therefore when buying expensive gems abroad, have the store specify on the receipt if the stone is of natural origin. This is added protection for you. Technically synthetic ruby is ruby. Ethically, though, it should be called synthetic or lab-grown ruby.

Gems also comes from living organism like pearls or corals. Natural pearls are more valuable than cultured pearls. Natural pearls are usually formed as the mollusk secrets layers of protective nacre (pronounced NAY-ker) around an irritant that accidentally enters the mollusk. Natural pearls are nearly 100% calcium carbonate and conchiolin. The irritant can be a minute snail, worm, crab, or a particle of shell, clay or mud. Cultured pearls are formed around irritants that are intentionally introduced by human. The irritant may be a shell bead, another pearl or tissue from an oyster or mussel. The shape and size of the resulting pearls depends to a large degree on the shape and size of the implanted irritant. Cultured pearls are usually used in designing pearl necklace and other accessories for women. Natural pearls come in many shapes, with perfectly round ones being comparatively rare.

Over 99% of the pearls on the market today are cultured. Perhaps the highest percentage of natural pearls sold today are found in Europe and the Middle East. In Europe, "pearl" means "natural pearl." In the United States, the term "pearl" has come to mean "cultured pearl" because natural pearls are not normally sold in jewelry stores. If a pearl is natural, it's usually called a natural pearl. According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, however, pearls that are cultured are supposed to be preceded by the word "cultured."