Moissanite Instead of Diamonds
Just in time for Valentine’s Day… If you can’t afford diamonds, consider what may turn out to be the next best thing: Moissanite. First discovered in a meteorite crater in Arizona, Moissanite has the fire, luster and brilliance of a diamond, and it’s nearly as hard. While I’ve never seen it in person, Moissanite apparently lacks the ‘glassy’ appearance of cubic zirconia. So where (other than that Arizona crater) does it come from? It’s actually extremely rare to find it in nature, but a North Carolina company discovered (and patented) a process for growing it in the lab. The end result is a diamond look-alike that can be had for 1/10 the cost.
Published on February 13th, 2006 - 8 Comments
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I do think that costume jewelry is nice. Moissanite, Cubic Zirconia, and other diamond imitations are preety. Even glass is preety.
But those are best left for when a girl wants to buy it for herself.
On gifts I only believe on giving the real thing. No inmitations, no fakes, just like the real love. Of course, the only diamond I have given to my wife was the engagement one, I can’t afford to give diamonds every year. But whatever I give her is true, even if not expensive. As true as my love to her.
A gift card to a jewelry store that carries diamond inmitations may be an option. Let her choose what she wants to wear.
Comment by Jose — Feb 13th 2006 @ 8:10 amI find that’s it’s more important to give a gift that required some thinking than one that just required a credit card. Jewelry is a nice backup but a good gift is much harder than that.
Comment by jim — Feb 13th 2006 @ 2:59 pmCheck out Wikipedia for the discovery of “Moissanite” a.k.a. Silicon carbide. It was synthetically created in 1893 by Edward Goodrich Acheson, before it was discovered in nature in 1905 as part of the Arizona meteorite to which you refer. Acheson was awarded the patent for its creation.
Comment by Bill — Feb 28th 2006 @ 2:36 pmThanks Bill. I wasn’t aware of that.
Instead of Moissanite, you may want to look in to White Zircon. It’s real and just as pretty.
Comment by Tracy — Apr 21st 2006 @ 11:05 pmGirlfriend and I picked out a Moissanite engagement ring. Excellent stone. No one knows it isn’t a diamond and we don’t tell them it is. Beautiful. Don’t let the debeers marketing campaign fool you. Diamonds are just rocks and the only reason they have such high value is that debeers owns 85 percent of the market. Also, if you have a small village in Africa and decide to mine your own diamonds yourself, they will KILL you. Search “blood diamonds” on the internet. Check Moissanite out at an independent jewelry store.
Comment by David — Apr 26th 2006 @ 10:13 pmIf it looks like a diamond, is as hard as a diamond, quality of a diamond, of course i’ll buy moissanite. Only an idiot would spend $5,400 more just to say “it’s the real thing.” Believe me, no cares if it’s the real thing. It’s the look and quality that counts, and the price of course.
Comment by mark — May 9th 2007 @ 10:22 pm