Why is the price so much lower?
Because supply is manufactured, not mined.
The saving is real. So is the reason for it. Both belong in the open.
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Where the price comes from
A mined stone carries exploration, extraction and a controlled supply chain. A laboratory-grown stone carries plant, energy and time—costs that fall as technology improves.
The result: a laboratory-grown piece typically costs a fraction of the equivalent mined specification, and the gap has widened, not narrowed.
What may keep falling
Loose-stone prices are exposed to manufacturing scale. If production gets cheaper, new stones get cheaper. DD will not pretend otherwise.
A complete piece falls more slowly than a loose stone—setting, making, service and delivery do not follow the same curve—but the direction is the same.
What a complete piece should cost
DD prices the finished object: stone, setting, making, GST and delivery. One number. If a price needs an asterisk, it is not the price.
Judge value on the visible outcome per dollar today—size, cut quality, presence on the body—not on a resale story no one can promise.