How popular is moissanite instead of diamond?

“I’m shopping for a diamond engagement ring, and currently find myself in a state of sticker shock, trying to come to grips with the difference between what I thought a one carat diamond was going to cost, and what I’m able to afford. A co-worker of mine showed me a pair of moissanite earrings and told me that they’re just like diamonds, but less expensive. Now I’m smart enough to know that nothing is going to be just like something else which is more expensive, and sell for less unless something is actually different, but I don’t know enough about moissanite and diamonds to know what the differences are. I will say that those moissanite earrings looked pretty darn good! Is moissanite a popular alternative for diamonds?”

What the heck is Moissanite?

Moissanite is not only challenging to pronounce, it’s also a diamond alternative that tends to confuse a lot of people, because the marketing seems to suggest that it is just like diamond when it is not.

Therefore, I feel that we should start with what Moissanite is, and what it is not. Naturally occurring Moissanite was first discovered in 1893, by a French scientist named Henri Moissan, whom the gem was later named after. It is incredibly rare in its natural form, which is actually composed of silicone carbide, whereas natural diamond is actually pure carbon

Moissan initially ran across what eventually became known as Moissanite, while examining a meteorite that fell to earth in Arizona. Needless to say that he was quite excited at the time, because he thought he had discovered “space diamonds” which is perhaps where the rumors about such things first got started.

Since natural moissanite is actually quite rare, but it apparently looks enough like diamond to have originally been mistaken for diamond by Moissan, people set out to create laboratory grown Moissanite, which tends to be the moissanite that is marketed abundantly today. In my experience, lab-grown moissanite might be engineered to look like diamond, but it actually has a completely different composition, and it doesn’t exhibit the same visual properties as a diamond if you really take a long, hard look at it.

Is Moissanite as hard as diamond?

Diamnond scores a 10 on the Mohs Scale of Hardness, making it the world’s hardest gem stone, with primary focus on the word “gem stone” because it isn’t the hardest substance in the world, as some people have been led to believe. Diamond is the hardest gem stone, but it can be scratched and damaged by metals and objects which are harder than diamond.

Moissanite scores 9.25 on the Mohs Hardness Scale, making it a good alternative for diamond in terms of durability. It tends to be better than Cubic Zirconia, which is commonly known as CZ, for jewelry such as engagement rings, and other types of jewelry that are worn on the hands. But understand that the Mohs Scale of Hardness is based upon the gem stones ability to resist scratching, we’re not talking about blunt force trauma.

Is Moissanite more brilliant than diamond?

I don’t agree with the marketing ploy commonly used by marketers of lab created moissanite, who claim that moissanite is brighter than diamond, because they’re playing with words and messing with your brains. Scrambling them actually. Most moissanite is faceted with a different pattern than would be used on a diamond, they use smaller facets, and smaller facets create smaller flashes of light, which our eyes then interpret as brilliance.

Whereas diamonds tend to be cut with larger facets, which is easier for our human eyes to disperse into colored light, thus Brian Gavin Signature round diamonds exhibit a virtual balance of brilliance (white sparkle) and dispersion (colored sparkle) and our diamonds produce sparkle that is larger in size, making them seem brighter, more intense, and more vivid. This difference between moissanite and diamond is even more apparent in larger sizes.

Is Moissanite as white as diamond?

I’ve yet to see a moissanite that faces-up as white as a colorless diamond to me, even the moissanites that are described as being colorless, seem to have a grayish or yellow hue when examined in certain lighting environments. Whereas a colorless diamond, such as those in the D-E-F color range, and even most G-color Brian Gavin Signature round diamonds, are going to face-up whiter and brighter than the whitest of moissanite from what I’ve seen. And the larger the moissanite, the more apparent the difference will be.

Personally, I wouldn’t waste your money on a moissanite, but that’s not to say that we won’t source one for you if that’s what you really want. We’ve had quite a few clients order engagement rings from Brian Gavin, and made several pairs of earrings for people who elected to set moissanite in settings like our handmade 3 prong martini settings. The stones might be good enough to fool the average consumer, but most of the people who ordered larger earrings were able to tell them apart from the center stones in their engagement rings which were set with diamonds.