That's a long and detailed post. What motivated the research and detailing? Are you thinking of investing in jewels, or simply looking at where you can where those you already own safely?

What amazes me is the premium people mentally place on "natural" gems which are technically inferior (in color, inclusions, etc.) to lab-grown chemically identical gems which allows them to justify paying one or two orders of magnitude more.

The syn jewels are fabulous, if you can get them without the cheaper look-a-like gold to hold them. I have a few in my jewelry box, but frankly with today's casual society, that's where they basically stay. Then again, I've never been the typical female, preferring to spend my discretionary dollars on real estate, or the hardware store to fix up that real estate, than baubles. Pretty early on in our marriage I told DH not to buy me more jewelry as between the kids and rehabbing homes, I found it hard to even wear my rings.

IP,
whose love language is time spent, not things bought