The first synthetic diamonds were produced by General Electric in 1954. A synthetic
diamond is basically a rock that has the durability, refractive index and hardness of
a natural diamond – but it is made by man.
A synthetic diamond should not be confused with stimulant diamonds, such as
glass, cubic zirconia, or moissanite.

Although the technology for synthetic diamonds came into play in 1954, no synthetic diamonds were ever seen on the
market until the 1990’s. This was due to the fact that it took many years for General
Electric to produce a synthetic diamond that could compare with the quality of a natural
diamond – and when they figured out how to do it, they found that it cost more to produce
a synthetic diamond than it did to mine and cut natural diamonds.

Finally, a small company by the name of Gemesis Corporation figured out a way to produce synthetic diamonds that were of the
same quality as natural diamonds, at a cheaper price. Today, Gemesis produces
synthetic white diamonds, and colored diamonds as well. These diamonds sell for
about 1/3 of the cost of a natural diamond, but there is a shortage of them, and they are
hard to find. In fact, it seems that synthetic diamonds are rarer than natural diamonds!