Second to none

Moissanite,the super lustrous stone has much to its credit

Moissanite (moys-uh-nite),also known as Silicon Carbide,is an innate mineral stone. It is named after Dr Ferdinand Henri Moissan,the French Nobel Prize winner who discovered it in 1893. Moissanite aptly called ‘gift from the stars’ formerly came from a meteorite in Arizona some 50,000 years ago. The original mineral discovered is officially identified as Moissanite 6H. Unfortunately,Moissanite has not been found in large quantities enough to be used lavishly in jewellery form. As a result,the market of Moissanite is laboratory created by Charles & Colvard. Moissanite is neither a simulate diamond nor a diamond substitute. It is a jewel in its sole right with its individual physical essence. Only recently,with the power of advanced technology,they have scientifically engineered a way to create this unique and close to colourless sparkler by producing large gem quality crystals using the same natural mineral,Silicon carbide. Moissanite accomplishes itself as a star crystal meeting all standards of colour,brilliance,’fire’ and light in a jewel. Moissanite exhibits high refractive index and dispersion which is pertinently expelled by master craftsmen for maximum glitter and fire. It is a very durable stone with a hardness of 9.25 making it resistant to scratching,chipping and cleaving. It also has an excellent lustre index of 20.4 per cent exceeding diamonds by a fair 3.2 per cent. Moissanite is not as heat sensitive as most stones which implies that resetting of the gorgeous crystal is a lot easier. It is preferred by some people as it has more lustre than diamonds and being a natural mineral it does not get cloudy like Cubic Zirconium over time. However,most Moissanite has a slight green/grayish tint. Single crystal Moissanite is manufactured through a patented thermal growing process. The procedure is particularly complex and expensive,thus averting mass production. Charles & Colvard Ltd is the one and only source and global distributor of created Moissanite,with proprietary patents for the manufacturing method and furthermore its exercise as a jewel. Besides international addresses like J C Penny,HSN and Moi Moi Australia; Sai Gems in New Delhi is a supplier of created Moissanite in India.

(The writer is a city-based researcher specialising in jewellery art and can be contacted at sameeraahaan02@gmail.com)