Jewelry

[ilovegreengems]

I have a 3-stone ring I wear as an alternative wedding ring. Always catch people staring at it; one acquaintance asked me which anniversary my husband bought it for- as if- I just told her I bought it myself. Let her think I have $10K in disposable income, LOL! That ring has no yellowish tint to the stones.

[Say Nay]

I think your aunt is mistaken. Moissanite doesn't change color.

The patent on Moissanite expires Aug 2015. It will be interesting to see what happens to the price, if anything.

[Madisson]

Here is what I found online. I did not know that moissanite was originally a mined stone:

<h2>What is Moissanite?</h2>

Moissanite is a rare mineral with the chemical formula SiC or silicon carbide. It is named after the discoverer of this mineral in its natural form, Henri Moissan. In 1893 he found several crystals in a meteor crater in Canyon Diablo in Arizona. At first he believed he had found diamonds, it took until 1904 before he identified it as a new mineral.

It usually is transparent though green and yellow moissanite can rarely occur. With its hardness of 9.5 on Mohs hardness scale it is the second hardest natural material known to man, just behind diamonds. Its color is not as colorless as a high quality diamond, usually being graded at I to K on the diamond color grading scale.

Almost always found as inclusions in other minerals or as tiny crystals, large moissanite in its natural form is incredibly rare. So rare in fact that there is not a single natural moissanite large enough to be used in jewelry on the market.

Not a single commercial moissanite mine is in operation, the only mining for this mineral is done for scientific purposes or when they are found as a part of other commercially viable gemstones such as diamonds.

Synthetic moissanite made its way to the gemstone market in 1998 when Charles & Colvard found a way to synthesize it in the required quality. The mineral is grown over several months and unfortunately this makes it quite expensive.

Moissanite cannot be bought as a colorless gemstone, usually being made in a I, J or K diamond color grade. Diamonds can be bought to a color grade of D which makes it the winner if you are looking for the best color you can find.

~~gemstoneadvisor.com~~

[Kachina624]

I believe the thinking is that they first arrived on earth via a meteorite, then were synthesized.

[chickenbutt]

On 12/30/2014 CalmInTheHeart said:

On 12/29/2014 esmeraldagooch said: All you have to do is lay one next to a diamond grading test set to see they are green/ yellow. The manufacturer says they are g/y.

Just fyi, Mine don't show any tint, even next to my best diamonds.

Nor do mine. I have a stunning little one carat diamond solitaire pendant (color D-E, clarity VVS1) that I've put right next to my Moissanite studs of the same size and you could not tell the difference.

First, they do look just like diamonds (unlike CZ) and, secondly, the color is just as bright and white as my diamonds. I would certainly not like them at all if they were greenish or yellowish.

Over the years, since I purchased these Moissanite stones, they have not changed one bit.

[juliet]

I bought a ring in the mint green color a few years ago because it reminded me of paraiba in color with a lot of sparkle. I don't know much about it and why it comes in this color though.