The gemcutter's skill I can understand as a contributing factor. I've read more than a few accounts of what folks who cut diamonds for De Beers go through, and what colored stone cutters have to work with; that's a reasonable factor to crank up a gemstone's cost. But man, if a lab grown sapphire is going to be of visual quality equivalent to a mined stone of the same size, I'd rather pay the scientists than the mining company.

Especially since my mother recently had a ring resized and told me about the process, so I know her ring size, and since I remember her mentioning a fondness for star sapphires in the past, even though she's never actually owned one, and since Mother's Day is coming up.