Synthetic fancy colored diamonds are not only politically and ecologically correct but also just the ticket for those who want a fancy colored diamond but can't afford a natural stone, says Alex Grizenko, president and CEO of Lucent Diamonds in Golden, Colo. Since synthetic stones originate in laboratories, they're not subject to Third World politics or unearthed at nature's expense. "Even De Beers claims the ratio of land mass to recovery unit is a billion to one," notes Grizenko. Additionally, unlike diamonds subjected to high pressure/high temperature (HPHT) or other difficult-to-identify treatments, synthetic diamonds can always be identified by a gemological laboratory. "It's truly a diamond," says Grizenko of his fancy synthetics, reiterating that synthetic diamond is the same substance as natural diamond but made in a laboratory rather than by nature. Given the current popular