THE SKINNY

Moissanite was first discovered in 1893 by Dr. Henri Moissan, a French scientist, who the gemstone was then named after. He discovered the microscopic particles in an Arizonan crater that was created by a meteorite.

Initially, he thought he’d found diamonds but then came to learn that they were crystals, made up of silicon carbide. Natural moissanite is especially rare, making most of today’s moissanite stones lab-created.

It wasn’t until the late 90’s that scientists figured out how to create moissanite.

Moissanites are man-made gems, made up of silicon carbide crystals. These crystals are then fashioned together into moissanite gemstones. This process takes anywhere from two to three months to create one moissanite stone.

All of our moissanite rings come with a Limited Lifetime Warranty that applies to purchases that are 4mm in size or larger. The terms of the Limited Lifetime Warranty include a warranty against defects in the material and workmanship of the gems.

Brilliance is the amount of light that shines off the stone. The most significant optical property affecting a gemstone’s brilliance, or sparkle, is the refractive index or RI. The RI of moissanite ranges from 2.65 to 2.69, meaning it displays more brilliance than diamond (with an RI of 2.42) or any other popular gemstone.

A gemstone’s fire is determined by a gemological property called dispersion. Dispersion refers to the prism effect that occurs when pure white light enters a non-opaque object, breaks into spectral (rainbow) colors, and reflects back to the viewer. Moissanite’s dispersion is 0.104, which exceeds that of any gemstone, including diamond, ruby, sapphire, and emerald.

Moissanite is durable, tough, and extremely resistant to scratching and abrasion. With a hardness of 9.25-9.50, moissanite is harder than all other gemstones except diamond.

Moissanite exhibits more heat resistance than many other gemstones, including diamond. Tests prove that at 2,000ºF–higher than the equivalent intensity of a house fire–moissanite gems remain intact and as brilliant as the day they were created. This heat tolerance makes moissanite unlikely to suffer damage during jewelry repair.

There are three grades of moissanite available today: colorless (D-E-F range), near-colorless (G-H-I range), and faint hues of color (J-K range).

All of Lovelee Fine Jewelry's moissanite stones are colorless and within the D-E-F range. There are no likely situations in which the color of moissanite will be permanently changed. Moissanite does undergo a temporary color change when exposed to extreme heat from a jeweler’s torch during jewelry repair, but with proper bench techniques there will be no lasting damage and the stone will return to its normal color once it cools.

Moissanite can have needle-like inclusions that can be seen under 10x magnification. However, they are not visible to the naked eye and do not affect the clarity of the stone. It’s worth noting that nearly every gem has some sort of inclusion. They are unique characteristics, which occur in the formation of the crystalline structure.

The carat is the traditional unit of measurement for a diamond’s weight. Moissanite is not measured in carats because it weighs approximately 10 percent less than diamond. For example, a 6.5mm round diamond would weigh 1.0ct, while a 6.5mm round moissanite would weigh 0.88ct. The two stones would be the same size – 6.5mm in diameter. View our mm to carat conversion chart here.