Moissanite is one of the rarest minerals found in nature. Experts have recreated this brilliant and sparkling beauty in the lab to a gemstone similar to a diamond in clarity, colour, and cut. This stone is a perfect alternative for diamonds in engagement rings for clients with tight budgets.

At Carin’s Jewellery Design, we stock both Charles & Colvard and Mi Amor moissanite brands.

Moissanite has more “fire”.

Moissanite has the so-called “double refraction” property. The “fire” effect is another name for dispersion, which refers to how a stone breaks down light into spectral colours. When light enters moissanite, the fire produced is more intense than the dispersion of a diamond.

So, if you hold a moissanite in front of your eye against a source of light, the flashes you will see should be more colourful than those you would observe in a diamond.

Moissanite weighs less than diamond.

Moissanite has lower density and specific gravity compared to a pure diamond. What this means is that if you compare the weight of a moissanite and diamond of the same size, the moissanite will be lighter. Thus, most jewellers sell moissanite by size (mm) and not by carat.

Moissanite is much cheaper than diamond.

Moissanite costs a fraction of the price of a diamond. A moissanite sell at 10-15% of the price of a diamond with similar clarity, colour, cut, and size.

Moissanite has higher clarity than diamond, on average.

Most of the moissanite sold these days is created in a lab under controlled conditions that minimize internal flaws, and that’s why this stone usually has higher clarity than most diamonds.

The best way to identify Moissanite

The best way to tell whether a stone is a diamond or moissanite is to use a diamond tester or a moissanite tester.Diamond testers detect whether a stone is a real diamond by analyzing how the material conducts heat or electricity.