Is it Diamond, or is it Moissanite?

Lately, a lot of people have been asking their jewelers if they've heard of the "NEW" gemstone that's so much like a diamond it will even fool a diamond tester (AND many jewelers!). This lab-created stone is called Moissanite. While many jewelry boutiques and family owned retailers carry Lab-Created Moissanite as a cheaper alternative to real diamonds, many jewelry professionals are not really convinced of its supposed value in the marketplace. However, there's been enough hype about the stone to at least take a closer look.

The history of Moissanite can be traced to the late 1800's, when future Nobel Prize-winning chemist, Dr. Henri Moissan, discovered minute quantities of natural silicon carbide while analyzing samples from an Arizona crater site. The mineral name for silicon carbide, Moissanite, was given in Dr. Moissan's honor in 1905. While this rare substance had potential as a gem of unique beauty, the quantities available were much too limited for use in jewelry.

Then, in the late 1980's, a proprietary process for producing large crystals of Moissanite was developed by combining the natural minerals of silicon and carbon. In 1995, a master diamond cutter suggested that properly cut crystals would make a remarkably hard, highly reflective gem. The company, Charles & Colvard, obtained a patent and has been manufacturing the stones in various shapes and sizes ever since.

The similarities between Moissanite and genuine diamond are many. Moissanite is second only to diamond in hardness on the Mohs scale, and its optical properties, such as high refraction, high reflectivity and modest dispersion gives it good brilliance and luster. In fact, a standard diamond tester, which measures the thermal conductivity of a stone, will mistakenly identify Moissanite as a diamond. There are now special testers, specifically calibrated to separate Moissanite from diamond, and a well-trained jeweler should be able to differentiate between the two using a standard 10x jeweler's loupe and a careful eye (careful enough to spot the tell-tale double refractions distinctive of moissanite -- diamonds have single refractions).

While Moissanite does sell for less than diamonds (approx. $200 to $800 per carat), it should be stressed that it is a lab-created diamond simulant like Cubic Zirconia (which sells for dramatically less -- often as little as $20 a carat). Although the use of Lab-Created Moissanite in fine jewelry has grown as of late, its true value as a gemstone, is yet to be determined.