Moissanite - what is it? History of origin

The story says that 50 thousand years ago a huge meteorite fell to the ground, which broke down the earth's crust and left behind a large funnel and a lot of debris. This story happened somewhere far away in America. Everyone would have forgotten about it, had it not been for those fragments of the meteorite that turned out to be very beautiful and were called moissanite. What is it and how to use it? Let's try to understand!

Interesting stone

Moissanite is the rarest cosmic mineral, named after its explorer, Nobel laureate Henry Moissan. It was he who at the end of the 19th century found several crystals of silicon carbide and determined that these are not just fragments, but practically precious stones.

Characteristics of the crystal

The moissanite, whose photo is presented below, is one of the types of silicon carbide. At one time it was even considered a type of diamond because of similar characteristics. But this opinion was erroneous.

In 1904, specialists conducted all necessary tests. Then they determined that the stone is not related to diamond, since the latter is "born" on the basis of carbon. Although they have a similar crystal lattice, but differ in color.

In nature, meteorite stones are extremely rare. Researchers for a long time managed to find only a handful of small pebbles. They found them either in the upper layers of the earth, or inside the same diamonds, which made it even more difficult to study a stone called moissanite. What is it and why can not we find larger deposits? This remained a mystery for a whole century. And scientists found the only true solution - a hundred years later the specialists of the laboratory of the Russian Academy of Sciences grew the first large jewelry quality moissanite.

The brightest and most beautiful in the world

It is unlikely that moissanite is widely known to the common man in the street. It should be assumed that any unaware person on the question: "What is the most precious stone in the world?" - will answer: "Diamond". But this is not so. An unearthly mineral is thousands of times greater than brilliance in brilliance and brightness.

The thing is that buyers do not yet see the moissanite as a leader. What is it, they just have to find out. After all, in fact, for the totality of all the qualities, moissanite will soon bypass the diamond.

The mineral, like the "idol", was created by man at the behest of heaven! It stands out favorably among other stones not only in brilliance, but also in beauty. Connoisseurs have long considered moissanite as the "crown of creation"! After all, he is able to satisfy any capricious jeweler and collector. The stone is so pure that it almost 100% exceeds all the diamonds on the planet. Slightly inferior to the diamond except in hardness.

Although it is much stronger than a diamond. Here is a paradox. This feature makes moissanite even more practical.

Thanks to all these advantages, the mineral very quickly won the world jewelry market. And, I think, this is just the beginning.

Moissanite Jewelery

At all times, jewelry with precious stones, and especially diamonds, could only be bought by very wealthy people. The rest should be satisfied with cheaper fakes (cubic zirkonia, Swarovski stones ) or simple "pacifiers". Moissanite has no "copies" at all. He is a self-sufficient jeweler's stone.

It looks great with precious metals and looks no worse than diamonds. And in some cases, even better. After all, in terms of cleanliness and brilliance, the stone is bypassed by other "sparkling" competitors. In addition, he meets the most important requirement of the client - a durable and long worn.

Jewelers claim that he bears clean energy to his owner and protects him from the evil eye.

What kind of jewelry is better to wear moissanite? The ring is perhaps the most successful choice for a mineral. It will be beneficial to look at the finger and can satisfy any taste. Also a mineral looks good in a pendant or earrings. The choice of jewelry with moissanite is quite large.

To date, a sparkling mineral for jewelry is produced by one and only company in the world, which is located in the UK. This corporation gives a full guarantee on its products and claims that the extraordinary properties of the stone will never change.

But they sell a synthetic analogue of the diamond in Russia. Buyers can order jewelry with a "heavenly" mineral in the online store. In jewelry stores, you can also buy moissanite. Moscow - the biggest "seller" of precious stones in the countries of the former Union. Therefore, everyone will choose a piece of jewelry to their liking.

Moissanite or a diamond? How to distinguish?

To recognize the authenticity of a stone, in the jewelry business there are special thermal tests.

When such testing was subjected to moissanite, the test identified the mineral as a real diamond. This made the diagnosis of the stone very difficult. Unlike other "copies" of the diamond, it was not possible to recognize the meteorite stone. Scientists have reflected: how to test moissanite? What it is?

Is this really an independent stone or is it an analog of a diamond?

And only very recently, modern electronic testers were able to determine what kind of amazing stone: moissanite or diamond? As already noted, research has shown that, despite all similarity, the nature of these two species is completely different.

Logically, the copy will never be better than the original. But this theory is not entirely true with regard to the diamond and moissanite. The flint mineral is as pure and transparent as the diamond, only less hard. But it has a great ability to scatter and refract light. And it also shines brighter. So, it is more attractive to people.

Moissanite is the most expensive artificially grown stone.

A diamond is a natural stone, the price for which exceeds thousands of dollars. There are quite rare quality specimens. Diamonds are always in vogue and increase in price. This is a good investment in a prosperous future, but sometimes they do not justify their investments.

To understand which stone is better is difficult. Here, everyone chooses a jewel in accordance with their preferences.

Price

The cost of any precious stone is determined by color, cut, weight and purity.

The most valuable moissanites are almost colorless and very small. They are rarely used for jewelry. In such cases it is cheaper to use diamonds. Cheaper black and yellow minerals. Moissanite differs in that its purity is almost always at its highest level. And the best form of it is round.

This stone is very fond of Hollywood stars and even royal persons. After all, the muassanite can not be distinguished from a diamond!

New developments

Jewelry masters have developed new colored moissanites, which accurately reproduce the color range of the rarest natural diamonds. Blue and green very expensive minerals appeared on the market. Significantly more affordable at a price of yellow, dark green, and also cognac.

Ornaments with such an invaluable stone as moissanite, reviews have the best. Real connoisseurs of beauty make jewelry with this mineral the pride of their collection.

A small conclusion

Of course, it should be noted that moissanite is very expensive! The cost of small rare stones is several times higher than diamonds. But, despite this, decorations with moissanite enjoy unspeakable popularity. Undoubtedly, beyond the "heavenly" stone is the future of the jewelry business!