Moissanite, the most brilliant jewel in the world

Superior Wedds & Designs are the sole manufactures of SWADE the brand of Argentium Britannia Silver 960 and Moissanite jewellery

A GEMSTONE CALLED MOISSANITE. (Chemical composition: silicon carbide) is a lab-grown, near-colourless gemstone. While moissanite closely resembles a natural diamond, it’s NOT a diamond, synthetic diamond or brand of diamond. Moissanite is a unique jewel. However, many people purchase it as an affordable diamond alternative.

FROM A METEORITE .To understand the incredible story of moissanite, we need to travel back in time 50,000 years to when a meteorite flashed across the sky and slammed into the earth at a remote spot in Northern Arizona. The violent impact created what is today known as a meteor crater. A vast hole in the earth’s surface 570 feet deep and nearly a mile across, in addition to scattering meteorite fragments across the desert, some landed in nearby Canyon Diablo. These fragments held minute quantities of a shimmering material discovered in 1893 by a prominent French scientist named Dr. Henri Moissan, who would later become a Nobel Prize winner. After extensive research, Dr. Moissan concluded that this material was a new mineral: silicon carbide. (SiC) In 1905, a well-known Tiffany & Co. gem expert and mineralogist, George Kunz, suggested the new mineral be named moissanite in Dr. Moissan’s honour.

Since naturally occurring quantities of moissanite are so rare and scarce (there hasn’t been enough found to create a single pair of solitaire earrings), and it took another hundred years before these brilliant crystals gained worldwide acclaim. Inspired by Dr. Moissan's remarkable discovery, three North Carolina brothers developed a proprietary process in the late 1980s for producing larger, single crystals of silicon carbide. Then in 1995, after observing a refined sample of silicon carbide (moissanite), a master diamond cutter suggested that properly cut crystals could result in a brilliant new jewel. Moissanite was brought to the world in 1998.

The most important physical property affecting moissanite’s potential brilliance (sparkle or flashes of white light a gemstone returns to the eye) is its Refractive Index. With an RI of 2.65-2.69, moissanite displays more brilliance than a diamond (RI 2.42) or any other popular gemstone

There’s never been a documented case of a moissanite gemstone's brilliance fading. A Limited Lifetime Warranty assuring that every Moissanite will maintain its brilliance and fire for the lifetime of the gemstone.

CUT. Every stone is precisely calibrated and hand-cut by a master technician to maximize brilliance and spark the ultimate fire. While standard round brilliant continues to be the most popular cut for moissanite, fancy cuts are also available. COLOUR. The standard GIA diamond colour grading scale was never designed to rate moissanite. Unlike diamonds, which range from colourless to brownish to fancy yellow, moissanite can carry undertones across the board from near colourless to green to yellow to gray. It’s a beautiful, brilliant and highly dispersive jewel that stands on its own, creating a unique jewellery category unto itself. The vast majority of moissanite jewels are near-colourless. New cutting edge technology has provided a whiter gemstone recently made available and branded as “Forever Brilliant”. CLARITY. Moissanite is grown using natural elements, mimicking nature in a controlled laboratory environment, like other natural gemstones, a percentage of the jewel is very clean of impurities. In comparison to GIA’s diamond clarity grading, the clarity of a VG moissanite gemstone, the vast majority used in jewellery, is similar to that of a VS diamond clarity grading. Tiny, needle-like inclusions invariably develop during the lab-created moissanite growing process. In our VG quality, these inclusions can only be seen when magnified using at least a 10x loop. They’re invisible to the un-aided eye. CARAT WEIGHT. In order to fit available settings, it’s often easier for jewellers to order moissanite by millimetre. The specific gravity of moissanite is 3.21., a 6.5mm round brilliant moissanite stone is approximately 0.87 carats, and is the equivalent to a one carat diamond in size. CONFIDENCE. Considered the most brilliant jewel in the world, with unsurpassed fire and brilliance, this unique created gemstone is the ultimate in affordable luxury. The exclusively patented process produces a gemstone with Limited Lifetime Warranty.