When you’re shopping for an engagement ring, you can’t afford to make any mistakes. Engagements and the weddings that follow tend to be some of the biggest events in a person’s life, and you’re going to want to commemorate those events with a piece of jewellery that you’ll love not just now, but years and years into the future as well. When it comes to engagement rings, diamonds are the traditional choice, but in recent years, a debate has emerged about which is the superior choice in the matter of moissanite vs diamond.
So What is Moissanite Anyway?
Many people are unfamiliar with moissanite as a stone, because its reputation is not as well established as diamonds. The stone was first discovered at the end of the 19th century by Henri Moissan, a French Chemist who would later go on to win the Nobel Prize for his discoveries. The mineral is so close to diamonds that Moissan originally thought that that’s what he had discovered, but upon closer inspection and chemical analysis, moissanite was found to contain silicon carbide. Nonetheless, the fact that one could so easily make such a mistake suggests that moissanite has more than a few things in common with diamonds, and it’s those similarities that lie at the center of the moissanite vs diamond debate.
How They Differ from Diamonds
When discussing just how moissanite differs from diamonds, you’ll want to think about them in terms of the four Cs by which diamonds are typically graded: carat, cut, clarity, and colour. As for carats, it must be said that moissanite is cheaper by weight than diamonds by a substantial amount; you can likely find the same carat weight moissanite ring for much less than a diamond ring of the corresponding size. Cut, of course, is something that is determined by the skill of the jeweller rather than the mineral in question. As for clarity and colour, moissanite tends to be just as clear and lustrous as natural diamonds, but it does have a bit of a detectable colour: a green or yellow tint that is visible when under light.
Hopefully this information can get you started in settling the moissanite vs diamond debate for yourself. Which one is right for your special day?
