Maybe 18/19 years ago, accompanied by my fiancee – my first marriage had ended with divorce some years previously – I had an appointment with a sales lady at Baker Brothers in Bedford. She asked if we wanted  to look at a selection of diamonds for my fiancee’s engagement ring, to be set in platinum. Of course we agreed, and so it was that she duly presented three cut diamonds (the largest over a carat in weight) on a black felt cushion, under a strong lamp. I can’t recall the ensuing conversation, but it was clear I was there only as the hapless owner of a credit card with a substantial credit limit. In plain English, the sales lady said this to my fiancee:

Which diamond would you like? The small one, medium one, or large one? The sucker next to you will have to pay for it, not you, so fill your boots!

Faced with such a scenario, how many women have ever said, “Ooooooh, I just LOVE the smallest one. Can I have it, please? Can I?” And so it was, inevitably, that my fiancee selected the 1+ carat diamond. I recall the price of the eventual ring with a shudder. Which brings me to synthetic or “lab-grown” diamonds, which are considerably less expensive. They are chemically identical to natural diamonds, consisting of pure carbon (the same element that’s in the graphite of pencils). Pandora, a jeweller, only sells lab-grown diamonds. Their largest is 1.75 carats – here – which retails (in a 14K gold ring) for £2,990. A quick Google search reveals a ring with a 1.75 carat natural diamond retailing at £14,995 – here. Returning to the Pandora website, there are only two reviews, both with one star out of a maximum five stars:

HORRIBLE Was given this by my boyfriend and IT WAS TOO CHEAP immediately broke up with him

Bad, just bad Brought for my gf and she broke up w me, I need a refund

What sort of a plonker TELLS his fiancee the diamond is lab-grown? Better that she finds out after trying to sell it, possibly some years down the line.

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