One word is about to change the way the entire jewellery industry talks about man-made stones. And the organisations leading the shift are the oldest and most authoritative in the business. CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation, is preparing to vote at its centenary congress this week on removing the terms “laboratory-grown” and “laboratory-created” from its Gemstone Blue Book, replacing both with a single, starker word: “synthetic.” The vote is scheduled for Monday, 7 September, during...

Emeralds occupy a singular place in the world of fine gemstones. Prized by Egyptian pharaohs, favoured by Mughal emperors, and worn today by collectors who understand that no two stones are alike, the emerald is both the most forgiving and the most misunderstood of the precious gems. Buying one well requires a different frame of reference than buying a diamond. The rewards, when you get it right, are extraordinary. What Makes an Emerald an Emerald The emerald is the green variety of beryl, a...

There is no question reshaping the fine jewellery conversation more thoroughly right now than this one: should I buy a lab-grown diamond or a natural one? It sounds simple. The answer is not. Both are real diamonds. Both are graded by the same gemological laboratories. Both will sit in your ring, your necklace, your heirloom. And yet the two stones represent fundamentally different propositions — in origin, in rarity, in long-term value, and in what they mean to the person wearing them. This...