We have such a treat that I can barely get my words out, to be honest with you. I have a jewelry enthusiast you guys may know: it is Angel, AKA Cubaknow. And I have a gemologist, AKA Erica Diggs, the CEO of Gumbo Grills. I am here to put the final stamp on the question that has literally been eating everybody up:

Can you tell the difference between a CVD, a natural diamond, and a moissanite?

Alright guys, so as I said before, we are here with a celebrity panel, to be honest with you. We've got Diggs to my left and Angel to my right. He is a jewelry enthusiast, she is an actual GIA-trained gemologist, and it's a question that you guys have been asking me for so many years now. Every time, 'Gus, but can you tell the difference?' And then of course, we have the YouTube comment experts that have never been trained. So, we're going to actually hear it from an actual trained jeweler, and we're going to see someone who sees jewelry more than you guys do.

I have here a parcel that I just purchased, and here are the stipulations: I wanted them all the same cut, the same clarity, and the same color. A lot of people say, 'Oh, well, that one shines more,' Well, it could be because of course, the color, the clarity, whatever it is. But these guys have the same clarity, they are graded as the same color, and they are graded as the same cut. Now you're going to be able to tell from a jeweler. I'm going to put it in their hands, and they're going to be able to grade it and tell me which one is which. We're going to start off with the non-expert first.

The Non-Expert Eye

Angel: Yes, please.

Gus: I'm going to put, and you're going to return it back to me. 

Angel: Of course. Now, just for full disclosure, we're using loupes, and we're going to be using loupes, right?

Gus: We're going to be using loupes, yes of course. So, this is stone number one. Okay, you guys thought I was going to say something. Same thing. Yep, you're going to put the stone here, you're going to look at the stone. He's done with the loop. Go ahead and take a look at it. Okay, and tell me what you see. What are you looking for? What are you seeing? What's going on?

Angel: I'm looking at the color. I'm looking for inclusions.

Gus: Good, what are you seeing in there?

Angel: I'm seeing it's a pretty clean stone, actually, a little bit too clean.

Gus: Okay, that's a good observation. Let me see. Okay, don't tell me yet. This is subject A. Okay, this is subject A.

Angel: I think I know what this is.

Erica: Okay, and we have the same stone?

Gus: You have the exact same stone. All these are the same stones, but I didn't tell you guys the entire truth because it will throw all of you guys off. I already know. I already know what this is. I don't know what this is. Okay, got it. Okay, that's subject A.

Angel: So, how am I going to remember?

Gus: Oh yeah, just A, the first one, second one, or last. Go ahead. Now again, guys, like I said before, she is a GIA-trained gemologist. This is someone who has a trained eye, who went to school, who saw thousands and thousands of stones under a microscope. That is how they train the eye to look for specific things. She is looking for inclusions, she's looking for color, she's looking for all these things that you're able to recognize exactly what they are.

Angel: And I know nothing.

Gus: Yeah, and I know nothing, to be honest with you. Let's keep it a buck. Alright, you got it? A little more time, or you got it? Let me get your stone back, sir.

The Certified Gemologist Eye

Gus: Okay, so this one is A. Now I'm going to hand you B. Again, remember, okay, this one's yours, and this one is yours. Here you go. Now, everybody always says that they can see which the differences, but like I always tell people in the comments, you don't know if they're all the same color. You don't know if they're the same cut. All these things can tell little certain intricacies, and unless you look at these things all the time, and even then, sometimes you genuinely can't tell.

Angel: So, it's tough.

Gus: For me, it's tough.

Angel: Oh, well, yeah, for you.

Gus: Well, for anyone. For me, it's going to be tough too, to be honest with you, 100%.

Erica: Especially the size.

Gus: Especially the size.

Erica: It's hard. The bigger they are, the harder it is to tell.

Angel: That's what she said.

Gus: That's what she said. Alright, let's go. You need more time? This is B. Okay, B, this is B. You need more time Diggs? 

Erica: I need the loupe.

Gus: Oh, you need the loupe. Okay, cool.

Angel: So, it's a whole learning process. The more you get to see stuff, the more you're learning every day. I've learned stuff from Diggs today. I mean, it's a learning process consistently for an enthusiast. Seeing these two side by side. So far, I can see that. Alright, I got a challenge ahead of me.

Gus: Yeah, it's, you know, even just looking at it from a trained eye or outside of that, it's what I tell people that it's not so easy. You're not going to tell from a camera. And so, this is kind of like a practice or an exercise that I do to show people that, you know, these are all the same, and we're going to actually find out whether it is.

Gus: So, this is C. This is C.

Angel: Alright, let's keep this. This one's okay.

Gus: Alright, this is C. Don't say nothing. Don't say nothing. Here we go. You want to know also an interesting thing. And I don't say this in a mean way, Angel, you know I love you with my heart. But this is where you could tell where people are looking for things and when people are not looking for things. When you look at it, like when most people are going to look at a diamond, especially when it's mounted on something, you're looking at it, and you're looking for that bling factor, but the bling factor isn't a thing. You have to look for quantifiable things that I look for specifically. So, when I put it to my eye, I'm looking at it like that.

In other words, what Diggs is doing right now is she's looking for something. She's looking for it.

Angel: Yeah, and what you're looking at.

Gus: I'm just looking at something. In other words, there's nothing specific that I'm searching for.

Angel: For sure.

Gus: And that's kind of the difference between people who are jewelers and ---

Angel: And unjewelers.

Gus: Exactly exactly. And that's what I, and I don't say that in a bad way.

Angel: No, no, I mean, it's a real...

Gus: It's logical. Exactly.

Angel: That's okay. It's like a surgeon. It's like you opening up a body on an operating table. You know that's a kidney and a heart, but you don't know the specific details of it. They're all flipped over. Hold on, don't move, don't move. Okay, alright, here we go. Tables up. Okay, so without telling me, A, B, and C, which one is a moissanite, which one is a CVD diamond, which one is a natural diamond?

Angel: That was hard as ****. Yeah, go.

Gus: Okay, but just point it to me. A, where's A?

Angel: A, I felt A was CVD. B was natural, and C was moissanite.

Erica: That's what I... um, A is a diamond. But B and C, I both felt like were moissanite. I wanted to flip them over so I could compare the luster. Because B and C both had faceted girdles. A little weird. And then I could also see through them. I could see the letters on B and C, but I don't know. I know for sure A is a diamond because they're all VS clarity. You need to see the inclusions to be able to visually see the difference between a lab diamond and a natural diamond, and when there are no visible inclusions, you cannot tell.

Gus: So, natural diamond, and which one of these is a moissanite? Which one is a lab?

Erica: I need to look again.

Gus: Just say it, come on, gut instinct.

Erica: B is moissanite, and C is lab diamond.

Gus: What did you say again?

Angel: I said A was CVD, B natural, C moissanite.

The Results

Gus: She got it right.

Angel: What was it?

Gus: A is a natural diamond.

Angel: A is natural.

Gus: B was a Moissanite, and C was a CVD.

Angel: Oh, okay, yeah.

Erica: And the only reason why I said B was a moissanite because here looking, I could see the way the light shined. The only way I was able to tell is just it does look a little bit, but let me look at it up close. This one right here. That's the... I said B is definitely a moissanite because I was looking at the way that the light shined, and that's why I turned on my phone light because I needed to see.

Yeah, you see that you can see one of them is screaming, and the other one is just kind of like... That's the one that you're holding right now. 

Gus: So, A was the dead banger. And the part that I didn't tell you guys is that A was a VVS diamond. 

Angel: That was clear as ****.That's why I thought it was CVD, because it was clear as ****.Yeah, it was near perfect.

Erica: Not only that, it's super duper white.

Angel: That's where my confusion lies. I was like A is a CVD. Why? Because it's perfect. It's almost perfect.

Erica: I didn't even need the loupe. As soon as I saw it, I knew what it was. I was like, this has to be a lab because it's that good.

Angel: That's why I automatically went for lab. B, I did not see it as a natural. I was like, I didn't see that kaleidoscope-y personally. What the last one was, the portion is what kind of threw me off.

Gus: The CVD, you could tell, and the reason why is because it's cut too perfect. It's too perfect.

Because in other words, in a natural diamond, you're trying to cut, but you also know that every time you cut, you waste material. In lab diamonds, they don't care. They're going to cut it perfect. They don't care if they take six or seven times on the thing. It's cut way too perfect. They don't care to waste material. That's kind of how you could tell, especially a melee.

Angel: See B was wildly different. Like I said, A seemed to be way too perfect for it to be natural. Yeah, that's why I didn't know. That's an amazing stone, right?

Erica: Three carats?

Gus: These are three-karat diamonds. It's a lot of money in there. Little stupid things right here.

Angel: that's probably one of the biggest size moissanites that I have really seen.

Gus: Oh, they crazier than this.

Angel: No, I know, but that's kind of like the biggest size. But yeah, I mean..

Gus: So there you go. There you have it. This is how incredibly hard it was to, number one, judge it. But number two, you could tell the differences between a trained eye and an untrained eye, and even a novice eye. Like I said, I'm not an expert even myself. I just look at them all the time, and even me, I get tricked. We were looking at it through a 40X loupe, and it goes to show how insanely difficult it is to tell anything with it, whether it be a moissanite, whether it be a CVD, anything like that.