Beauty, Durability and Rarity

The Beauty of a jewel is judged on three components: brilliance, luster, and fire. Brilliance arises from the jewel's refractive index and is a measure of how much light that enters the jewel is reflected back to the viewer. Luster measures how much light is reflected off the surface of the jewel. Moissanite has a higher refractive index than diamond and reflects back several times as much light from the surface and heart of the jewel. Fire is a measure of dispersion and how intensely light that enters the jewel is split into the colors that make up the visual spectrum. The result of a jewel's fire is the sparkling color flashes you see when it is moved. Moissanite's dispersion is over twice that of diamond, which results in a breathtaking display of colors when Moissanite jewelry is worn.

A jewel’s Durability is measured by its hardness and toughness, which are tested by observing resistance to scratching, chipping, and cleaving. The durability of a jewel is extremely important to how much fire and brilliance it possesses. The more durable the jewel, the more facets that can be cut into the face of the stone and the more intensely they can be polished. The durability of Moissanite makes it possible to craft the jewel in order to maximize the observed brilliance and fire.

The Rarity of a stone is determined by its natural occurrence and availability. Moissanite is by far the rarest jewel on Earth and is available only after a century of research and a process that blends elements of art and science to produce the jewels.

The following chart compares Moissanite’s physical properties to four of the most popular stones used in jewelry.