Diamond Nexus Labs "lab-grown diamond" has been tested by multiple labs and in all cases, the product has repeatedly been shown to be to be ordinary CZ.
These test findings are in stark contrast to their websites adamant claims that the product is "not a CZ". Diamond Nexus has never shown any independent testing to refute the test results confirming it is a common CZ, instead they threatened lawsuits that never materialized.
Test 1: The International School of Gemology has published their findings here:
(link: http://www.yourgemologist.com/DiamondNexusLabs.html)
Test 2: Anderson Materials Evaluation testing showed that the Diamond Nexus Labs product is common cubic zirconia.
Their specific findings:
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"The principal elements of the gemstone are zirconium, yttrium, and oxygen, so the gemstone is a common cubic zirconia."
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"No Hf, Fe, Ni, or Co were detected, despite Diamond Nexus Labs listing them as present in the FAQ's page of their website."
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"An excess of oxygen was observed on the surface. This may be due to the reaction which can cause cubic zirconia to become cloudy and is observed here in an early stage due to the great surface sensitivity of XPS." [Comment: one benefit of the Asha's amorphous diamond coating is to prevent this reaction]
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"The claim that the gemstone is polycrystalline must come from a misunderstanding on their part. A cubic zirconia gemstone which was polycrystalline would be very undesirable...The polycrystalline material is good for furnace bricks, but not for gemstones, especially given their claim to make the World's Finest Diamond Simulant Gemstones."
A full copy of the Anderson Materials Lab evaluation is here:
Diamond Nexus Labs XPS review and independent testing results
Of interest, after we posted the Anderson lab report in late 2007, we received a letter from Diamond Nexus Labs threatening to sue us, as well as spend "hundreds of thousands" of dollars on a smear campaign against our company unless we pulled the report from public view by Dec. 10, 2007. It was interesting in that it did not make any claims that the lab was mistaken or provide any evidence refuting the lab report...rather it was focused on demanding we pull the report or face a smear campaign about our own product (on the apparent assumption that we were not really coating our product). Unfortunately for them, the Asha simulated diamond is US Patent pending for a reason, and we have multiple independent lab reports verifying our amorphous diamond coating.
A copy of the letter is here (PDF format). No legal action was forthcoming, since as any lawyer can advise "Truth is the ultimate defense".
Besides deceptively advertising their product as "lab grown diamond", Diamond Nexus previously took photos of natural diamonds, and even the Asha diamond simulant, and represented them to customers as being photos of their product. One blatant example (from 2006) is shown below:
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| Original photo of a 1920's natural Asscher diamond by Nelson Rarities | Photo as shown on Diamond Nexus website and saved Sept. 1, 2006. This photo was used as the product photo for their Asscher cut. (blue arrows added after to highlight the leftover prongs). |
Of further interest, the CEO of Diamond Nexus (Gary LaCourt) was apparently convicted of fraud and served time in prison before starting Diamond Nexus Labs. After his release from prison and before starting Diamond Nexus, he apparently billed himself as the "Internet Dating Professor" and hawked an online guide promising secrets for middle aged men to easily garner a 'bumper crop of hot babes' at the website RainingWomen.com.
Further reading:
We also highly recommend interested readers take a look at our message boards, which has a number of additional postings including customer comparisons of various fake diamonds compared to each other.
One such thread with customer comparison photos is here:
Comparison photos
Further, another poster found that Diamond Nexus Labs appears to purchase their product from Signity, the worlds largest cubic zirconia manufacturer:
Diamond Nexus Labs product is ordinary Signity CZ?
Our message boards, with over 400,000 posts from consumers around the world, are here:
http://betterthandiamond.com/discussion
