Moissanite Fact and Fiction

Moissanite, in its natural form, remains very rare. Discovered in 1893 by French chemist Henri Moissan while examining rock samples from a meteor crater, he mistakenly identified the crystals as diamonds, only to be correctly identified by Moissan as silicon carbide in 1904. The mineral form of silicon carbide was named in honour of Moissan later on in his life. Natural Moissanite is found in tiny crystals, making it unsuitable for use in jewellery.

Synthetic Moissanite

Synthetic Moissanite was introduced to the jewellery market as a diamond alternative in 1998 after Charles & Colvard received patents to create and market laboratory grown silicon carbide gemstones. With refractive indices of 2.648 and 2.691, a dispersion of 0.104, a hardness of 9¼ on the Mohs scale, and a specific gravity of 3.22, synthetic moissanite is much closer to diamond in overall appearance and heft than any previous diamond imitation.

Moissanite can easily be differentiated from diamonds by use of a moissanite tester, a device that measures electrical conductivity or a loupe for a close visual examination.

1. Brilliance and Fire: Diamonds emit brilliance and fire, and moissanite shows both but typically has more fire than a diamond, showing more coloured light flashes. However, this depends partly on the diamond cut. Diamonds with older cut styles or modern cuts with certain angles will show more fire than most modern cut diamonds.
2. Colour: With the advancements in technology Moissanites are readily available in the same range of colour as white diamonds, “Colorless” is equivalent to D- F range and “Near Colorless” is equivalent to G-I.
3. Clarity: Because moissanites are grown in laboratories, they do not have the large clarity imperfections that diamonds may contain. So, a moissanite will always be eye-clean, while diamonds may contain imperfections visible to the eye.
4. Hardness: With a hardness of 9.25, moissanite is the second-hardest material used a gemstone.
5. Toughness: Unlike diamonds, moissanite has no cleavage plane, an internal plane along which a diamond crystal can easily split. This gives a durability advantage to moissanite. However, this doesn’t help establish how hard a moissanite needs to be knocked until it chips or shatters. Generally, both diamond and moissanite are unlikely to chip or crack, although this is always a possibility and also depends on the type of cut.
6. Cost: Moissanite, marketed as a lower-priced alternative to diamonds, is synthetic and does not involve the expensive mining practices used to extract natural diamonds offering major cost savings for consumers looking to purchase larger, whiter and cleaner stones.
7. Value: There is very little industry consensus on the resale value of moissanite and what value it will hold in the future. The steady price of natural diamonds is an indication of their intrinsic value.

Article credit: International Gem Society