Wired magazine sent shock waves through the industry with its September cover story on "The New Diamond Age."
The story on diamond synthetics covered mostly familiar territory for the industry—but its sensational tone caused some to worry that synthetics and other "gem defense" issues may soon resonate at retail.
The article portrayed two producers of gem-quality synthetics: Gemesis in Florida and Boston's Apollo Diamond, which uses a technique called Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) to grow synthetics, mostly for use in the computer industry. (See "Identifying CVD Synthetic Diamond" below.) Both companies manufacture only synthetic colored diamonds.
In the article, an Antwerp dealer who inspected two yellow Gemesis stones said, "Unless they can be detected, they will bankrupt the industry." A De Beers executive was described as "[turning] white" with his "hands … shaking" when