Chatham Lab-Grown Alexandrite CrystalWith lab-grown gemstones gaining popularity, people often question whether or not they are real gems. One of my loyal customers wrote me a friendly email today just to see how I was doing during this Covid-19 pandemic. In his email he made a reference to a Chatham alexandrite he bought from me as a gem. He followed that comment with a question…“hummm do you call a Lab Created Piece a Gem?” The answer is, of course you call a lab-grown gemstone a gem.

Do you call a rose bush grown in a greenhouse a rose bush?

Chatham alexandrites, are real alexandrites, just grown in a controlled environment. In fact, all Chatham gems are grown in their natural crystal habit, like the image you see here. They start with a seed crystal and the proper environment to create crystal growth…and the crystal grows over a period of months. So Chatham Created Gems have the same chemical, physical and optical properties as mined gems.

Likewise, lab-grown diamonds are real diamonds, simply grown in a controlled environment. They too, have the same properties as mined diamonds. So it is completely accurate to refer to lab-grown gemstones as gems.

Check out this video of an amazing lab grown pink diamond waterfall ring we created for a client. Do they look like real diamonds to you? They look pretty amazing to me.