It is impossible to go back in history so deeply as to track exactly when people began to create the first jewelry with precious gems. Such pieces of jewelry have always been of high value and possessed a certain meaning, serving as gifts, ritual attributes, and inheritance.
People discovered hundreds of natural crystals of incredible beauty, but later learned to create them on their own in laboratories. That is why jewelry with precious inlays is as popular as ever. But what to choose among such a variety?
Traditionally, the standard of all standards is considered to be a diamond. This stone is legendary and, of course, every woman wants to add an accessory with it to her collection. However, the jewelry sphere offers many equally beautiful alternatives, among which moissanite takes its special place.
What is moissanite?
Moissanite is a rather rare mineral of extraterrestrial origin. That's right! Moissanite came to us from space in the composition of meteorites.
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One of the first to come to this conclusion was a chemical scientist named Henri Moissan, after whom this gemstone was later named. After a detailed analysis of the remains of rock from meteorite impact sites, the scientist saw that the basis of moissanites is composed of silicon and carbon atoms. The atomic structure of this gemstone is a perfect crystal lattice, which means that the two elements were combined under the influence of high temperature and pressure. Such conditions cannot exist on Earth, even in theory.
Therefore, the scientist concluded that the moissanites were formed in space. However, not every meteorite contains these gems. They are found only in those celestial bodies that were in places of large-scale space disasters, such as the death of stars.
The main characteristics of natural moissanites are:
extremely high melting point, which is about 2400 °C (for comparison, a diamond has a melting point of only 800 °C);
hardness of 9.5 on the Mohs scale (only diamonds have the legendary 10);
high degree of light refraction - 2.42 (almost identical to a diamond);
axonal syngony (if you look at a faceted stone from above, it seems as if its facets are bifurcated).
It is also worth mentioning that natural moissanites can be both transparent and yellow, as well as green and even black.
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Laboratory-grown moissanites
As you can already understand, natural moissanites are pretty rare. And since the demand for them was high enough, in the 90s, in the laboratories, experts began to work on growing artificial samples of this stone.
They are almost as good as the inclusions found in meteorites, and therefore are also valued on the market. In addition, experts grow stones of higher caratage than those found in nature. Essentially, moissanites are the very first competitors of diamonds.
Diamonds or moissanites: what to choose?
All over the world, diamonds are considered an unsurpassed standard of beauty and durability. However, they come at a price, especially if you want to get a piece of jewelry with a high quality gemstone.
Moissanites, on the other hand, look on par with diamonds (even if we take into account artificially grown samples), but are more affordable.
In the Orxata catalog, there are various transforming jewelry with gems that can be customized at your request. Choose what you like - cubic zirconia, diamonds, or moissanites, or any other gems.
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