Last week, watching CCTV's "Today's Statement" program, there are two issues of jewelry cases that are quite interesting, telling the story of a jewelry consultant of a diamond company who used his position to replace the company's 7 loose diamonds with 7 moissanites, and the customized moissanite was consistent with the original diamond grade, and even marked with the same diamond waist code to try to fool through the customs, involving millions of yuan, and was finally sentenced to 6 years in prison.
"Today's Statement" 20211011 Seven Diamonds Naked _CCTV Program Official Website-CCTV-1_CCTV(cctv.com)
"Today's Statement" 20211012 Hide the Sky and Cross the Sea _CCTV Program Official Website-CCTV-1_CCTV Network (cctv.com)
In this issue, we will talk about the Moissanite that can be faked and real.
Moissanite (moissanite), scientific name silicon carbide, dr. Mosan of the United States discovered this mineral in 1904 in a crater in Arizona, hence the name, or according to the translation also called "magic star stone". Moissanite has a very similar appearance to natural diamonds, is not easily distinguishable to the naked eye, and is a gemstone with closest physical properties to diamonds.
Compare a set of gemstone data: Moissanite has a hardness of 9.25, which is lower than the hardest diamond 10. The specific gravity is 3.22, compared to the diamond 3.52, and the weight is lighter than the diamond. In the refractive index and fire of the diamond, the refractive index of moissanite is 2.65 and the dispersion of 0.104 is higher than the diamond's 2.417 and 0.044, so the brilliance and fire of moissanite on the naked eye are higher than that of the diamond.
Diamond, zircon, moissanite data comparison
However, the amount of natural moissanite is very rare, so the moissanite currently circulating on the market is synthetic, that is, synthetic silicon carbide, which is an artificial synthetic gemstone, neither natural nor synthetic diamond, in short, it has nothing to do with diamonds.
The synthetic patented technology of moissanite was previously unique to C&C in the United States, and the patent term expired in 2016, so 2016 was a watershed year for moissanite to begin to emerge in large numbers of markets. When the author was admitted to the CGC jewelry quality inspector in 2014, he purchased a 0.5 carat moissanite specimen for learning, the market price was 1000-1500 yuan, after 2016, the moissanite began to enter the market in large quantities, so far, the ordinary quality of moissanite 1 carat is only 40-50 yuan, and the wholesale price of high-quality (D color, VVS clarity) moissanite market is also 80-150 yuan, and the price is very different.
As an artificial gemstone that has only begun to appear gradually after 2016, many consumers do not understand it, and it has a fairly high freshness, so it often plays the role of "touching porcelain" diamonds in the consumer market, or the heat of rubbing diamonds. Common such as online live selling platforms, offline sale meetings, promotional promotions, etc., but the promotion will use such as Moissan diamonds, Moissan diamond rings, carat diamonds and other edge ball names, publicity standard authoritative international certificates, etc., making people mistakenly think that it is a diamond.
So how do you identify moissanite and diamond?
The above-mentioned moissanite can be judged by weighing (lighter than diamonds), observing fire (stronger than diamonds), and zooming in to observe the sharpening of the edges (thicker than diamonds), but these methods are mostly sensory judgments, provided that the diamond and moissanite are more understood, which is more suitable for jewelry practitioners. If you want to judge whether it is moissanite more accurately, Xulin Xiaobian recommends zooming in to observe whether there is ghosting in the position of the gem's facet ridge, which requires the help of a tool - 10 times magnifier.
Start with a normal set of diamond facets, which are sharp and sharp.
Zoom in to see the facets of a set of moissanites and look at the ridges.
(The faceted edges of moissanite are obviously "double shadows", that is, the phenomenon of two edges)
This phenomenon occurs because the moissanite has a birefringence value of up to 0.043, resulting in the reflection of the prism, that is, the phenomenon of seeing two prismatic parallel "double shadows". Usually the birefringence of the gemstone reaches 0.02 can be observed, and the double shadow phenomenon of 0.043 will be very obvious and easy to observe.
Therefore, zooming in to see if there is a "double shadow" is the most direct way to distinguish moissanite from diamond.
(Floor plan of Moissanite)
It is worth mentioning that usually the jewelry store will use a diamond detector pen to detect whether it is a diamond, simple and fast, it is easy to distinguish a series of imitation diamonds such as zircon, but there is no effect on moissanite, because the use principle of the drilling pen is based on the ultra-high conductivity of the diamond, and the moissanite is extremely close to the diamond in the conductivity, therefore, moissanite is also one of the very few that can be detected by the drill pen, which should be noted.
Finally, there is the diamond's certificate.
At present, online shopping for moissanite will generally be equipped with a test report, and the style of the report is infinitely close to and imitate the GIA report issued by the Gemological Institute of America, called the "GRA" report, which will confuse consumers who do not understand the diamond, mistakenly thinking that the inspection report is a real diamond, in fact, it is two different things.
(Gemological Institute of America GIA Diamond Report)
(GRA Moissanite certificate imitating GIA report)
In addition, the waist of the Moissanite will also be engraved with a code, usually GRAxxxxxxxx, after all, it is a synthetic gemstone, the waist code will be relatively rough, not as delicate as the GIA diamond waist code, and even like the custom waist code in the case.
(Customized and modified waist size)
(Normal GIA Diamond Waist Size)
Synthetic moissanite has a quality that is not inferior to that of diamonds, and its aesthetics can even be better, but as a standard for jewelry, it is naturally insufficient in terms of rarity, after all, products that can be copied in large quantities have no collectible value at all. Its positioning is still "imitation diamond", ornaments of this type, but than the "imitation diamond" of the predecessor big brother zircon quality is better, closer to the diamond, its existence is reasonable, but do not confuse.